


1002 Years : An Originals Anthology

by korr_sella



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms
Genre: Anthology, Background Relationships, F/M, Flashbacks, Gen, Lots of witches - Freeform, Mysteries of the Past, No Mystic Falls, Originals AU, lots of flashbacks, sibling relationships, starting again when they come to New Orleans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 09:18:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 58,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6977389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/korr_sella/pseuds/korr_sella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Present Day: It has been 90 years since Rebekah, Niklaus and Elijah put a foot on the streets of New Orleans. Now they are lured back by a woman who claims to be their sister. With these new family ties they are forced to face a past that still threatens their own survival today. </p>
<p>Past: Kol befriends a witch that eventually learns the biggest secret about the Originals yet. A fatal secret that not even Original siblings themselves knew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Village and the Pendulum

**Author's Note:**

> As a fan of the Originals in TVD seasons 2 and 3, I was a pretty disappointed on how the series The Originals turned out. With this fic I tried to create a story of how I imagined it could be. I wanted to lay a bigger stress on the past and the relationship between the siblings and a smaller one on New Orleans (and vampire babies, like, what even).  
> Also, this is not a continuation from either of the shows (i.e. they never went to Mystic Falls), it's more of an AU where I picked up some elements of the show that I liked. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

**Present Day, New Orleans**

There she was, in the old town house in New Orleans, looking down onto the street from the first floor. This room used to be a study room, almost like a library, that was mostly occupied by Elijah, but Marcel must have changed most of the interior. The new furniture looked a bit more disassembled and cheaper than the old one, but Rebekah couldn’t say that she had liked the old furniture better. She felt a colder shiver down her spine. She hadn’t been back in New Orleans since 1925 and she had a reason for that. A part of her always thought she could forget the pains of those days, but now that she was back she knew that wasn’t the case.

“Why exactly did you have to lure _me_ of all people back here?” she asked, which was rather a question to herself than anyone else. Why did she even agree to come back?

“Because you were easier to persuade than your brothers,” Marcel replied with a convincing smile.

Stupid Marcel. He almost made her forget why she didn’t like this place.

“Are you saying I’m gullible?”

“No, of course not,” Marcel said swayingly. “It just shows that you’re the most reasonable person in your family.”

Rebekah laughed. “Nice retrieval.”

 

The door swung open and a young dark haired woman rushed in. When she saw Rebekah she made an abrupt halt.

“Oh, you’re already here,” she said.

“This is Davina,” Marcel added.

Before he could add something, Rebekah said with a smile: “Yes, you wrote about her in the letter.”

It was only two days ago that Rebekah received Marcel’s letter. Then she was still back in New York, together with her brothers Elijah and Niklaus. Although, _together_ might have been the wrong word. Elijah had been seeing this philosophy student for the last few months who, although an intelligent woman, kept ranting about the demons inside every human being. Rebekah kept pushing him to leave her alone, because god knows he couldn’t tell her they were vampires, but he didn’t listen. Then she got into a fight with Nik, when he said she didn’t have any right to meddle with everyone’s private life, making her dispute with Elijah about himself, as he usually did. Marcel’s letter was a welcome escape, and she left without even telling her brothers goodbye. Only when she was out of the door, she realised how long it had been since the last time she was in New Orleans. And even now she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it.

 

“Let’s get right to it then, shall we?” Davina said rather casually and began to unpack her bag on the table in the room.

As Davina pulled out a map anda wooden box from her bag, Rebekah looked at Marcel questioningly.

“The reason why I asked you to come, “ Marcel begun with a much more serious tone now, “is because we, that is Davina, found something very odd. She has been trying out different kinds of location spells for finding vampires in New Orleans, but they always come out wrong. They mark spots where we know aren’t any vampires.”

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. “You brought me here because your little friend can’t do a proper location spell?”

She looked at Davina. She couldn’t be much older than 16.

“First of all, I know how to do location spells,” Davina looked affronted, “and besides, that’s not the only-“

“Let me tell her, “ Marcel interrupted, resting his hand on Davina’s shoulder, which somehow calmed her down.

“Yes, the location spells are in order. Trust me, we checked. The marks always show up in the same place, in the middle of a witch coven. And these witches aren’t vampires, we’re sure of it. And that’s not the only thing. When we couldn’t find the source of the problem, we began to experiment with different things. Turns out the spot marks not only a vampire, but an original.”

“That’s not possible.” Rebekah shook her head.

Davina sighed and unrolled the map onto the table they were standing next to. Then she opened the wooden box and took out a copper pendulum. Rebekah moved next to her and looked at the map of New Orleans. Of course she knew that the city had grown since she left in the 1920s, but now that she saw it on the map it looked practically gigantic.

“So far I’ve been using the dust of this house to get the original scent, but if you want me to do it _properly_ I could use your blood?” Davina remarked.

“Sure,” Rebekah replied and offered her hand. She started to like Davina.

After Davina pinched her with a needle and moved the drop onto the pendulum she began to chant. Rebekah had heard an enormous amount of witch chants in her life, but she never bothered to remember them. Why even try if she couldn’t have that kind of power as a vampire? They all sounded the same to her anyway. Soon her blood from the pendulum dropped onto the map. Quickly it began to move towards the townhouse, towards her direction. All seemed as expected, until the drop slowly divided into two. While the bigger drop kept moving towards her, another one moved awayfrom it and eventually stopped close to the harbour.

“This can’t be,” Rebekah added in disbelief.

“Are you sure? I mean, are you absolutely sure than neither of your brothers is here or was here, somehow confiding with witches?” Marcel asked.

Rebekah thought for a moment. She had been together with Niklaus and Elijah in New York for a while now. There would have been absolutely no possibility for them to quickly going to New Orleans and back without her noticing it. Finn and Kol were dead. There was no one else.

“I’m sure. That just doesn’t make sense.”

“All I can say is that there is someone in New Orleans with Mikaelson blood running around. The pendulum doesn’t lie,” Davina concluded.

 

 

**1705, Ysbyty Ifan, Northern Wales**

The dirt lept up to Kol’s boots. They had been standing on the muddy path for a while now. Let’s wait here for a while and watch the village, his brothers said, so we don’t attract attention. He already regretted not staying in London with Rebekah. She was smart. She said there was no way she’d travel all the way up here just to search through this tiny, practically medieval village. She must have a blast right now. Probably invited some people over, and now they were drinking and dancing in the comfort of a warm and dry home. Not that a vampire could feel the cold, but there were definitely nicer places to be than a muddy road while the wind and rain slapped your face, even for a vampire.

“You’re not watching the village,” Elijah said to him.

“You observed that right. You two are doing a great job of that already.”

Elijah turned his eyes but before he could counter, Kol added: “It’s not like there is anything suspicious we can hear. None of these people are witches.”

“He’s right,” Niklaus added, who kept his eyes on the village, “the witch is not here.”

They had been observing the village for a while now and listened. With roughly half a mile of distance they could hear the people in their village homes talk to each other. There were maybe 50 of them, women, men, some old people and children, going through their daily routine on this spring evening. The brothers had been hoping the witch would give herself away with some witchy talk, chanting, anything, but nothing seemed suspicious. The main problem was though that these villagers spoke Welsh, and Kol and his brothersweren’t exactly proficient in the language.

“Let’s not make hasty decisions here. Just because we don’t hear her talk, doesn’t mean she’s not here. The pendulum said she’s here, and the pendulum is usually right, especially with that kind of power involved,” Elijah said.

Oh that witch, Kol really did not care about her. They had been looking for _that_ witch for a long time. Ever since that other witch told Niklaus that the most powerful witch she had ever heard of lived in Northern Wales and had so for the last 50 years. Ever since then Nik had the great idea to find that witch in order to win her for the team, aka the team of super specimen that are better than humans, aka him and his siblings, so that he has a witch on his side to do his biddings. Having a witch on their side, permanently, would be helpful, Kol had to admit. But every witch they encountered so far wasn’t that helpful in the long run, because either they weren’t that powerful after all and died, or were just not willing to help. Kol couldn’t really say he was surprised by this. It wasn’t that Nik was terrible at making friends, he could be surprisingly nice when he wanted, but it was hard to find someone useful that was as crazy as the demands he had. Nik’s main goal still seemed to be a way to find the vampire doppelgänger just so that he can kill her. Priorities, Kol sighed.  
“Let’s wait till it’s dark and then scout the village,” Nik decided.

 

When the sundown began to settle in they moved towards the village.

“Have you thought about how you’re going to do it, Nik? Convince the woman to come with us?” Kol asked. “Are you going to charm your way into the heart of that middle aged lady? Now that I think of it that’s actually not the worst idea.”  
He was pretty sure he saw a slight smirk on Nik’s face.

“Maybe she doesn’t need much convincing. She must be bored, living here in this sad little village, having all these powers for nothing. She’ll probably come with us before we can even ask her.”  
Let’s hope she’s crazy then, Kol thought.

Eventually they reached the village and moved between the narrow paths between the houses. Nobody was outside anymore, the rain and the wind kept the villagers safe in their houses. Kol, Nik and Elijah walked along the houses and listened. Now it was much easier to tell the voices apart, as they headed from house to house. But it was still the same, just humans doing human things, talking and eating. Occasionally they stopped when they passed a woman that roughly fit the age and profile of the witch, but it was no use. None of them gave themselves away for being in any way magical.

After Nik made them go through all the houses twice they eventually gave up. The witch in this town apparently didn’t do many witchy things at night. They decided to come back the next day. Maybe it was easier to find her during the day.

 

The weather didn’t improve much overnight. As the morning broke some weak streaks of sunlight touched the meadows around the village, but it was still cold and windy. Kol thought about London. What was wrong with him when he agreed to come along? If he had known that all they were going to do was staring at a village and then making sure that these 50 people living in that village are really, one hundred percent, not witches, he would have stayed at home for sure. His mood didn’t improve either, when Nik suggested they should start talking to people, and if they weren’t helpful compel them to find the witch.Elijah pointed out that they couldn’t compel them because the people didn’t understand English, so there was really only the talking option. Then Nik got angry, but since he didn’t want to let go of his idea, he decided that only the talking it is. Kol decided not to weigh in on this discussion, because he knew he would be talking at a wall. That seemed like a ridiculous amount of effort now that they pretty much knew that the witch wasn’t there. He was just hoping the day would be over soon.

However, the first meeting with the villagers went surprisingly well. They seemed interested and friendly enough towards strangers. Kol had the impression they thought he and his brothers were only passing through, although he wondered where they were supposed to go to, since this place already seemed the end of the world.

 

Nik was on his mission, and Elijah nice enough of a brother to help, so Kol decided that he wasn’t needed anymore in this task. If the witch was here they could surely find her without his help. Slowly he moved away from the crowd and began wandering around the houses. In daylight, and when one ignored the occasional rain drops, they almost looked homely. He walked towards the edge of the village where the muddy path led towards the mountains. Someone on their way here told him that this path was part of a pilgrimage route that led over a pass to the other side of the valley, and Kol wondered why anyone would want to walk over that mountain.

Suddenly he spotted a small cottage further down the path, but still rather close to the village. From his experience, witches, although often included in a community, preferred to live on the brink, both mentally and locally. Sometimes helpful but still on their own. The location of the house would be ideal. He felt the lack of motivation waning. Oh, he would love to rub into his brothers’ faces if he found the witch and not them.

He walked along the path until he reached the wooden house. Its windows were shut but there was smoke coming out of the chimney.

“Hello?” he said as he reached the door, and waited. He decided that Nik’s talking approach might actually give the fastest result here.

Nobody replied.

He slowly walked around the corner of the house and peaked through the window cracks as far as her could, nobody seemed to be inside. Suddenly he heard a noise that from the other side of the cottage.

As he turned around the second corner, he encountered a young woman sitting next to a huge can of water. She was cleaning roots. When she saw him she jumped back a little but didn’t stand up.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t want to intrude,” he said rather clumsily but with a smile.  
As he finished the sentence he already suspected that she would’t understand him anyway.  
That suspicion grew when she replied something in Welsh.

“So,” he started again, “you don’t speak English, do you?”  
Her eyes widened in confusion, and she slowly shook her head.

Still not sure what to do next, he asked: “Is your mom maybe home? Does she have any special powers?”  
Might as well go with the really stupid questions if they don’t understand you.

The girl obviously didn’t understand. Kol assumed she could be related to the middle aged witch. She was around twenty, maybe? Kol was never good at guessing human ages. That’s a skill that’s lost when you don’t age yourself. Suddenly she spoke to him again. There was no fear or anger in her voice, so he assumed she didn’t mind him intruding in her garden. When she was finished she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Did she ask a question?

Then she pointed back to the path and up the mountain and rephrased some unintelligible words.

“Are you asking if I’m on a pilgrimage? Then the answer is no,” Kol replied with a laugh.  
The girl shook her head confused and gave a laugh. She got up to her feet but apparently didn’t know anything else to say either.

He had the impression her eyes moved slightly downwards. Was she looking at his chest? Wait, was she checking him out? That is an interesting turn of events, Kol thought. Now that he looked at her, he thought she was rather pretty. She had a country maid look going for her, with the curly unruly hair and her slightly tanned skin. To be honest, he wassomewhat surprised that village girls seemed to be so easy. Before he could do anything with this piece of information she spoke again. And again he had no idea what she said.

She sighed impatiently and pointed to herself and said: “Briony dwi. Briony.”

“That’s your name. Briony,” he put together.

She smiled and nodded.

“I’m Kol,” he said with a gesture that probably looked idiotic.

“Kol,” she nodded and smiled again.

“Well, it is nice to meet you, Briony. I am…”

They heard food steps coming up the path. Briony made a shh-sound - finally something he understood - and shoved him to the side, and she walked to the front of the house.

 

Huh, Kol thought, she doesn’t want anyone else to see him. Interesting. True, he had no idea what she had said so far, but she didn’t seem afraid or intimidated by him. On the contrary, the way she looked at him were rather signs of intrigue. In the moment she was away, he decided that if she came back and would throw herself onto him he wouldn’t turn her down. First of all, that would be rude. And second, Kol couldn’t think of any way that this could go wrong. He sat down on one of the tree trunks next to the house and smiled. This terrible day could still turn around.

A few minutes later she returned, still focused, with an aim in her eyes, but unfortunately not the desire that Kol was hoping for. She carried a burlap sack full with vegetables with her, whoever that just was must have given it to her, and placed it next to the entrance door. Then she walked over to him and sat down next to him, as if that was the plan all along.

She addressed him again.

At this point she must surely know that he didn’t understand. When he looked at her blankly, she spoke again. She kept her eyes focused on him, and the intense way she spoke made it sound like it was important, at least to her. When she was done she looked at him expectingly. Kol shook his head. He saw that she was getting impatient. To his surprise he suddenly felt her hand on his chest. It seemed like she was actually going there. But somehow he wasn’t sure if he should react to it or not. She repeated what she said before, a bit slower this time, and kept her intense look fixed on his eyes. Did she want him to kiss her?

He felt really off his game with that whole language barrier.

He hesitated. Before he could anything else, she sighed and took her hand away.

Instead she placed it on her chest, and began tapping it softly. She was imitating a heart rhythm. Then she placed it again on Kol’s chest and shook her head.

A light went on Kol’s head. She knew that his heart wasn’t beating. How could she-

“You’re a witch.”


	2. The Compulsion

**Present Day**

Soft cool air flew through Rebekah’s hair and tickled her neck. High above her she could make out some seagulls circling and flying back and forth towards the coast. That was something she always liked about New Orleans - being so close to the sea. They were on their way to the West Riverside, where the mark on the map appeared. Marcel and Davina had told Rebekah that the area had become a popular gathering place for witches in the last few years.

Coming here herself and finding out what was behind the mark seemed the obvious decision, Rebekah was sure of it. Marcel wasn’t so convinced. He and Davina had already been there a few times, trying to find out who was behind the mark. Although they had a theoretical truce between witches and vampires in New Orleans, Marcel had never been popular with the witches, and now that they believed he was practically stalking them, he wasn’t exactly welcome anymore at the riverside. Davina was a different matter, but since she was always seen with Marcel, they grew suspicious of her as well. Still, since it had to with her family Rebekah had to see with her own eyes.

 

“What is your story, Davina?” Rebekah asked, as the walked along the promenade, “why are you with Marcel?”

Marcel and Davina exchanged looks. “I’ll be happy to tell you all about it, but it will take forever and we’re almost there.”

“You know, I have a theory of whom it could be,” Marcel began. “Well, not a theory, it’s more of a thought. Very unlikely.”

“Yeah?” Rebekah asked absent-mindedly, as they followed the path that led to the West Riverside.

He hesitated.

“I mean, I thought about the impossibility of this, and how it makes other things less impossible.”

Rebekah had a feeling where this was going.

“Couldn’t it be,” Marcel continued slowly, “you know, since we _know_ that it can’t be you or Elijah or Nik, that one of the others…”

“No,” Rebekah said firmly.

“But-“ Marcel replied, but Rebekah cut him off again.

“There is no way that Fin or Kol are alive.”

Before Marcel could say anything else, she added: “Let’s not get our hopes up for nonsense like this.”

Rebekah sped up her steps and moved in front of him. She couldn’t quite it explain to herself, but Marcel’s suggestion made her very angry. It already felt like a big sacrifice for her state of mind to come here, and he dares to bring up that topic?

“We’re here,” Davina concluded, apparently not touched by the quarrel that just happened. It was still a few steps until the promenade ended. Across the street was a huge light brown door that was slightly open. It belonged to a bar or a coffeeshop, Rebekah concluded, as she looked at the door above it saying “House Voltaire.” Through the windows she saw tables and chairs and people chatting. It was a busy place and apparently popular.

“Surely not all of these people are witches, right?” Rebekah asked.

“No. Not all of them. Many are just normal costumers and tourists. But the numbers of the Crow Coven have risen in the last few years. Can’t really say why, must be good in their marketing department, finding new witches, things like that” Davina replied.

“That’s the coven’s name?” Rebekah turned to Marcel.

“Yup, still the same name. But they don’t have much to do anymore with what the coven was like 90 years ago.”

“But you know which ones are the witches in the bar, I take it,” Rebekah asked, turning again to Davina.

“Yes, there are not hard to spot.”

Marcel was about to take a step, but Davina held him back.

“Marcel, maybe you should stay outside. Remember what happened last time?” Davina said. Marcel sighed but didn’t seem to disagree with her.

“Do you think they’ll mind me?” Rebekah suddenly realised that she might no be welcome either. So far she only considered confronting the witches, but she hadn’t considered that they might not want to talk to her at all.

“They won’t know your face. None of them were around 90 years ago. Most of them have forgotten,” Marcel reassured her. That sounded almost nice, Rebekah thought. She would like to forget that time too.

Davina and Rebekah set off across the street and went to the entrance door. Before Davina pushed the door open she said: “What he meant with that, is that they don’t even know you guys exist. They think you’re a myth, created from the terrors that revolve around the events from back then. They know what happened though.”

Somehow Davina’s words almost sounded like a threat, but Rebekah couldn’t tell why.

 

They stepped into the bright inside of the bar. It might have been the loud and lively atmosphere in this late afternoon and the sun light that pressed inside, but the place seemed even brighter than the streets outside. Rebekah looked around. The walls were clustered with photographs and posters and other gimmicks. In the front right corner was the bar. Above was a sign with the usual list of drinks and a big "Happy Hour 4-7pm” note. Suddenly someone pushed her from behind. A few guys passed her, just entering the bar. In one corner some girls shrieked about the new song that just started playing from the blaster above them. Rebekah didn’t want to imagine what this place was like during Mardi Gras.

Davina must have read her thoughts and said with a laugh: "Yeah, that place is not to everyone's taste. Marcel is pretty envious of it though. Has so much more costumers than his place." Then she added: "Probably another reason why they don't want to see him here. They think he's trying to compel and steal their costumers." With the last sentence she rolled her eyes, obviously stating what she thinks of that allegation.

"Davina." They heard someone say from afar. It came from the tall man behind the counter. He looked at them with a forced smile, as he put down a new batch of clean glasses on the counter in front of him. Polite but distant, Rebekah thought. They walked over and while they walked Davina gave Rebekah a quick knowing look. Must be a witch. As they reached the counter he mustered Rebekah first, then Davina.

"So ladies, what can I do you for?" he asked in a superficially casual tone. The question he question he really wanted to ask was, Why are you here? 

"I'm showing my new friend Beka around. She just moved here,” Davina replied. Then she turned to Rebekah and said: "This is Louis. He's the best bartender in town."  Louis raised an eyebrow but then gave a little a laugh. His postured loosened up. Rebekah thought he looked very unusual for a witch, muscular. Most witches Rebekah met were either thin or chubby, because they never had to lift a finger in their lives. His bound together hair was disgruntled. Working in a place like this probably does that to a person, Rebekah figured. 

"Well, it's good to see you have some other friends, Davina." Then he reached under the counter and brought out two beers. He opened them and put them in front of the girls. He nodded and moved to the other costumers. 

"He didn’t ask us what we want to drink,” Rebekah said while skeptically inspecting the beer.

"Don’t mention it. I’m just glad he didn’t kick us out.”

Rebekah turned away from the counter and observed the crowd. Some guys next to the window were engaged in a drinking contest while the people next them judgingly observed them. When Davina saw what she was doing she nodded towards group that sat on table across from them.

“Those over there. Witches, all of them.”

Rebekah looked at their faces but she didn’t know any them. When the group saw them, they threw waspy looks at Davina and turned away and moved closer together. 

“Do you know all of them?” Rebekah asked.

“I know the whole coven, unless there are some newcomers. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

The group must have been suspicious of Rebekah too, since they stopped talking immediately. Not that a human could hear them in loud surroundings like these, but a vampire definitely could. 

Suddenly Rebekah heard two voices arguing that weren’t in the room. She turned around, they came from the back office. Davina was about to ask something but Rebekah motioned her to be quiet. She listened.

_What is she doing here?_ , said an agitated female voice.

_Dunno, she brought a friend_ , said a male voice that Rebekah assumed was Louis.

_A friend? And you just let her sit there? We don’t know what she’s up to!_ , the female voice responded.

_You know my stance on the matter. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. At least she didn’t bring Marcel_ , Louis replied. 

_I want her out, Louis,_ the woman said. 

_This is not your bar, Freya, and by the way, if you still want her to join us it might help if we don’t start a fight every time we meet her,_ Louis said. After that the woman didn’t reply anymore. Davina looked at Rebekah with anticipation.

“They were talking about you,” Rebekah said, and before she could elaborate, the door of the back office swung open. A woman with blonde curly hair appeared, which Rebekah figured was the female voice she just heard. She looked furious and stamped a few steps out of the door way. Then she turned around and saw Davina and was about to march over to them to kick them out when she suddenly stopped in an abrupt halt. Her eyes were on Rebekah. Rebekah could feel the woman’s heart beat stop for a second and saw her blood rising into her face. She breathed heavily and took an insecure step back, still having her eyes on Rebekah. Neither of them spoke. Rebekah had no idea what to say. She didn’t know the woman. Then the woman suddenly turned around and disappeared again in the door way.

Davina looked back and forth between Rebekah and the door. 

“What was that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Rebekah answered honestly.

“Do you know her?” Davina asked.

“No,” Rebekah replied, “but I have the impression she knows me.”

 

 

**1705**

When Kol returned to the village square the crowd was gone. He saw Elijah resting against at a wooden fence close at the other end of the square. His face told Kol that he didn’t have any success.

“Thanks for nothing,” Elijah said as Kol reached him.

“I wouldn’t call mine finding a witch nothing. But I always had lower standards than you, Elijah,” Kol replied with a smirk.

“You found the witch?” Elijah straightened up quickly, too interested to give a snide comment back.

“I found _a_ witch,” Kol replied. “I don’t think she’s the witch we’re looking for. Too young. But it’s a start.”

He told Elijah about what happened with Briony. After he had realised she knew that he was dead, she had asked him more things that he didn’t understand. Surprisingly she didn’t seem scared at all. He figured it could mean that she had already met other vampires. He told Elijah about this assumption.

“Could be,” Elijah said, “but what surprises me is that she just noticed that you don’t have a heart beat. It’s an odd skill. I don’t think I’ve met many witches who were able to… feel that.”

“Whoever she is I’m sure we can convince her to help. She seems nice,” Kol said, and then added: “I mean cooperative.”

“I won’t be easy without her speaking our language,” Elijah concluded.

“I might have a solution for that,” Nik said who suddenly stood next to them. Beside him was an odd looking middle aged man with a weak smile.

His brothers looked at him with surprise. Nik took the hint and added with a grin: “This is my good friend Rhett. He speaks basic English and agreed to help.”

“Voluntarily?” Elijah asked.

“That’s relative,” Nik replied, “he thinks it is.”

 

Together with Rhett they marched back to the cottage at the village border. As they closed in Briony came out of the door, apparently expecting them.

“Is that her?” Nik asked. Kol nodded.

When they arrived Briony looked at them each and then at the whole group, waiting for them to speak first.

“Briony,” Kol began loudly while making big gestures towards Elijah and Nik, “these are my brothers.”

“Kol, you don’t have to shout at her. We can let Rhett tell her now.”

Nik repeated the info to Rhett who then spoke to Briony. She nodded and smiled. Then she said something to Rhett in return.

“She asks why you are here,” Rhett translated.

“Tell her we’re looking for a witch,” Nik said, keeping his eyes fixed on Briony.

Rhett and Briony spoke again to each other.

“She said there are no such things as witches.”

Nik was about to speak again, but hesitated. Then he turned to Kol and said with an undertone: “Didn’t you say you saw her doing witchcraft?”

“Yeah, I did,” Kol replied quickly, “ I know she’s a witch.”

Briony crossed her arms, tiptoed and kept her eyes on Rhett.

“I know what the problem is,” Elijah suddenly said as he came to the front. “She doesn’t trust Rhett. He doesn’t know she’s a witch.”

“That’s not a problem,” Nik replied with a relief. “Rhett, tell her that you won’t remember anything of this conversation when it’s over.”

Rhett repeated the sentence to Briony. Skeptically Briony moved closer to Rhett and focused on his eyes. There was a mixture of fear and interest in hers.

“Ask her if there are any other witches in this village.”

Rhett did as he was told. Briony didn’t reply immediately but stayed focused on Rhett for a moment. Then she answered, more calmly than before.

“She says no.”

“Do you think she says the truth?” Elijah asked.

“Probably,” Nik replied. Then he turned to Rhett again: “Ask her if she can show us her magic.”

When Rhett finished speaking to Briony, she began to laugh. Then she shook her head and replied.

“She said she’s above impressing vampires with magic tricks.”

Kol saw that Nik slowly grew impatient. He also had the impression that Briony wasn’t used to commands. He said: “Nik, just tell her why we’re here. She won’t trust us anyway until we tell her the truth.”

Grudgingly Nik did as he was told, and told Rhett that they want Briony to come with them. Briony laughed again.

“She said she’s happy here. She doesn’t want to come with you.”

“You don’t understand,” Nik said, now speaking to Briony directly. “What you have here is nothing compared with what you could have when you stayed with us. Don’t you want to be part of something bigger? If it’s true that you’re the only witch in this village, you must feel useless. Hiding all the time, not using your power for anything great?” He waited. When nothing happened, he gave Rhett a shove and Rhett began to translate.

As Rhett talked Briony looked back and forth between him and Nik. Her crossed arms loosened a bit. Was she curious after all? When Rhett was done and she replied to him, however, her eyes hardened again.

“She said that might be true. But she doesn’t see how some common vampires could help her with that. You’re beneath her.”

The last part didn’t sit well with Nik. Within a second he grabbed a wooden stick that was lying nearby and staked into Kol’s heart. The pain filled Kol’s chest, but what he felt even more was anger. It was always him who was used as the example for the general non-dying of Originals. As Kol fell over, he heard Nik say: “We’re not common vampires.” And Rhett’s translation followed right after.

Briony jumped back, her mouth standing open. She stared at the stake that stuck in Kol’s chest and that would have killed any other vampire. Rhett began shaking and breathing heavily. As Kol got up again and un-staked himself, he already felt better. He would think about payback for his annoying brother later. Briony kept looking back and forth between him and Nik now. Kol didn’t believe that this chain of events helped to gain her trust, though. Yet to some extent she looked intrigued. She was about to say something to Nik, but then turned to Rhett who still breathed heavily and started to sweat. She said something to him. He just stared at her with big eyes. She repeated it. But he didn’t react.

“What is she saying?” Nik asked.

“She wants me to leave,” Rhett replied.

“No, stay,” Nik demanded.

Briony understood what he said and looked at him reproachfully. Then she repeated what she said before. Rhett didn’t move. She repeated it again, turning her eyes to Nik. Rhett didn’t budge, but kept looking back and forth between her and Nik, his eyes terrified. They both looked at each other, neither of them backing down. After a few moments, Briony sighed and rolled her eyes. She moved swiftly to Rhett and put her hand onto his forehead. She began chanting quietly. They all watched her with astonishment.

“Is she,” Elijah asked slowly, “trying to break the compulsion?”

“Is that even possible?” Kol asked.

They looked at each other, not sure if they should interfere. Nik was bewildered as well. None of them has ever seen anyone trying to break the compulsion of an Original.

“This has gone on for long enough,” Nik eventually said and took a step towards her. He didn’t get far. As if there was an invisible wall he stuck midair and couldn’t move any closer. Briony turned her head towards him, while still chanting and having her hand on Rhett’s head, clearly unimpressed. Suddenly an airwave blew both Rhett and Nik over, and Kol felt the ground beneath his feet trembling. After a few seconds it was over. Briony quickly kneeled down to Rhett and helped him sit up. Rhett looked terribly pale and confused. They exchanged some words. It looked liked Briony was consoling him. Hopefully telling a lie, Kol thought. Nik was very pale as well and it took him a few moments to stand up again. Briony helped Rhett up, and he quickly looked at the brothers, but then walked away with fast steps, not looking back.

Nik was up again and he looked like he was ready for a counter attack, but Elijah held him back: “Remember that we want to convince her to come with us.”

He hesitated for a moment, but then Nik turned around with a grumble and marched away.

Briony repeated what she said earlier, and by now Kol knew what the words meant. She wanted them to leave.

 

 


	3. Intimidation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the following chapter(s) will be formatted/edited for mistakes in July (I'm travelling right now without my trusted laptop, so I might wanna change some minor format things later)

**Present Day**  
Freya shut the door behind her. At least that was what she intented, but the door slipped out of her hand and she smashed the door so loudly that probably the whole bar noticed. She took a moment to breathe.   
She knew she had to expect her siblings to show up eventually but she didn't expect them to come back to New Orleans so soon. For almost a century they hadn't returned but now that she had been here for only a year they came. Did they know?  
Seeing Rebekah here suggested so. She couldn't read Rebekah's attitude though. She seemed calm, maybe a bit confused. But on the other hand if Rebekah came here knowing that her sister was here, she would have been prepared obviously, Freya thought. Rebekah hadn't said anything to her, but Freya didn't want her to give a chance for that anyway. Freya felt the anger rising in her. How stupid must she have looked when she just stood there, probably in a deep red, turned around and stumbled away.

She had gone through the scenario of meeting her siblings many times. She had always seen herself staying strong, confronting them about their past, telling them what monsters they were and then turn around and never see them again. But in none of the scenarios would she just stand there awkwardly and not even open her mouth. She liked being above things and usually knew what to say. Except in this situation, it seemed.  
What to do now? Run? Leaving right this second would be the easiest choice. It would take a while until they find her, and she would have time to prepare to behave less moronic at the next meeting. But was that worth leaving everything behind?   
New Orleans had become a home in the last year and it would be hard to give it up. She had been hiding from her siblings from a long time and hiding took its toll. It had been hard finding friends that stayed, not even including the fact that most of them had a much shorter life span than her. Vampire friends were never a question. Not only was there the danger that they somehow figured out who she was, but also from her experiences with vampires she would never trust them enough to have as friends.  
But New Orleans was different from anything she had experienced before. For the first time she had met witches whose powers seemed a match to hers. Not that Freya felt like she was particularly powerful - and there were more powerful witches than her in New Orleans, she kept reminding herself. The community of witches also shared a knowledge about magic to an extent that Freya had never seen. This place was also the first time she dared to share her past and age with such a big group of people. Well, she made herself about 500 years younger to lower the suspicion, but she told them of the curse that made her practically immortal. Some of the witches were surprised but still they knew enough about witchcraft to know that these things were possible. New Orleans had been the first time where she didn't feel like a complete outsider. No, she wanted to stay.  
Fight, then? Think of the plan you had, Freya reminded herself. Her big speech about how she hated them was still possible, she just had to confront them before they had the chance to come back. Yes, that was good enough to reinstate her pride, Freya decided. She didn't want to imagine though what consequences that could have. Would her siblings go and tell everyone that she is related to them? How would the coven react? Freya felt that difficult times were heading towards her. Still, this seemed to be the best way to deal with the situation.

Suddenly Freya felt the door pushing against her back and she stumbled a few steps forward. Louis who was carrying a load of wet kitchen towels stepped inside and grumbled "Why are you standing behind the door, Freya?"   
He didn't seem very interested in the answer though as he passed her without looking at her and placed the towels on the counter of the other side of the room. However, when he turned around, Freya realized she wasn't off the hook.   
"Do you wanna tell me what that just was about?" he asked while nodding towards the bar.  
"What do you mean?" Freya asked meekly.  
"That sad scene that happened where you wanted to intimidate Davina but instead ran away?"  
"I..." Freya begun. What could she say besides the truth?  
"I have never seen you so upset about anything, and frankly, it concerns me. Do you know the other girl? Is she dangerous?"  
"Yes, and yes" Freya said slowly. Then she had an idea and added quickly: "She's an Original."   
Louis opened his mouth and closed it again. With a second attempt he replied slowly: "An original vampire? How would you know?"  
"Because I've seen her before. About 90 years ago."  
She told him how she had seen Rebekah and her brothers in New Orleans the last time they were there. She told him who Rebekah was, but for now she left out how she herself fit into the story. Louis was too startled by the story to ask why she was in New Orleans back then as well.   
When Freya finished her story Louis looked at her in fear. "Well, that's not good then, that one if them is here again. Considering what happened last time."   
"If it's only her we can handle it," Freya replied with a stern face.  
"I know you're a strong believer of the power of the crow coven and all that, but do we really know what we're dealing with? Besides, we already have that quarrel with the werewolves. And we're certainly not powerful enough on two fronts."  
"Don't use that name for the coven. It's idiotic. But let's not get ahead of ourselves," Freya waved him down. "We don't even know yet what she wants from us."  
Louis nodded slowly.  
"What do you think she wants from us?" He asked, wringing his hands. Then he added: "Wait, do you think she knows about the magical heap in the woods?"  
Freya had wondered about that too, but she didn't let herself worry about anything but her sister.  
"Who knows. Maybe she won't stay long."  
If I can convince her to leave, Freya thought.

  
**1705**

A few days had passed since the brothers' encounter with the witch, but they hadn't made any new attempts to talk to her. Elijah had suggested to give it some rest before they reached out to Briony again, and even Nik had to agree that they wouldn't make any way by using force.

"Have you ever thought about that it might not be the smartest idea to persuade a witch that is more powerful than us to come with us?" Kol asked, as they looked over the fields that led up into the mountains.   
"I mean," he added, "will it not be more likely that we end up doing her bidding than the other way around?"  
"She's not more powerful than us," Nik replied.  
"Yeah, you were totally in charge when she broke that compulsion of yours," Kol snorted.  
"She took me by surprise, that's all," Nik said as he glanced over to Kol with narrowed eyes.

"Maybe let me talk to her," Kol suggested. "I have the impression she likes me better than you."   
Nik became restless. "No, I don't think so."  
"It might be a good idea," Elijah weighed in. "Let Kol talk to her first."  
Nik hesitated. Then he turned to Kol and looked at him intensely. "You better take it serious," he said.   
"Don't worry. The faster I can leave this place the happier I'll be," Kol replied with a wink. Then he stepped out on the path that led to the cottage.

On his way there a doubt came over him. When he had offered to talk to Briony he hadn't really thought about what he wanted to say to her. He believed his chances to persuade her were marginally better than Nik's but how he was supposed to do it was above him. With every step he felt less secure on what to do. When he reached the cottage he was happy to see that Briony wasn't outside. Anything that gave him a few moments more to think.  
The moment didn't last long as suddenly the cottage door swung open and Briony appeared, obviously not happy to see him. When she saw him she looked around skeptically.  
"It's just me," Kol said while raising his hands. "I'm just here to talk."  
Now he only had to know about what. Briony didn't make any attempts to reply and kept observing him like a hawk while still holding the door open with one hand.  
"You know," Kol began making up his mind, "I guess we got off the wrong foot. We don't mean you any harm. Actually we tried to impress you. But I can see now that my brothers and I are terrible at first impressions."  
Briony didn't reply but her eyes softened a bit.   
"I take it you still have no idea what I'm saying but that's fine. I'm talking nonsense most of the time anyway. What I'm trying to say is that I don't know if you'd be happy if you came with us, but it will probably be more interesting than staying here. Nik wants me to tell you that it will be the best decision of your life, but between us, he has a tendency for the dramatic. But here I am trying to convince you to come with us because mainly I wanna go home. But you don't understand anything so I guess none of what I said reached you."  
Briony raised an eyebrow. Still, she looked friendlier than before.  
"You're still paying attention. That's a good sign," he smiled.  
She smiled back. _Kol_ , he thought, _you still got it._  
"What now? Do you want me to continue babbling? I have more tales that you can pretend listening too if you that's what you're into."  
Briony slowly closed the door behind her while her eyes still rested on Kol. Then she said something that sounded like a command. She moved passed him and gave him a push to follow her.  
"Where are we going?" Kol asked.  
Briony walked up to the road and then looked to both sides. Then she looked back to Kol. He walked up to her to the road. She asked him a question which indicated that he apparently had to tell her the way.  
"Wait, do you want to go to my brothers? To Nik and Elijah?"  
She nodded. Surprised he showed her the way to where he left his brothers. He highly doubted that he convinced her to go with them but it was a start.

When they reached Nik and Elijah they were clearly surprised to see them back so quickly.  
"Seriously, Nik, just show yourself from your best side," Kol heard Elijah saying.  
"Shut up," Nik replied, but he seemed to take the advice and tried to look as unintimidating as possible.  
"What did she say?" Elijah asked.   
"How would I know? But she wanted to come here," Kol replied.  
Elijah turned to Briony who, unexpectedly, smiled at him.   
"She changed her mind?" Elijah asked, slightly unsure. Kol could sense some hope in his voice, and he was surprised that Elijah thought it could be so easy.  
"I don't think so. But maybe she wanted to give the conversation another chance."  
Nik who until now stayed in the background took a step to the front but Elijah held him back.  
"What does she want to talk about?" Elijah asked and turned to Briony again.   
Briony who then realized that all eyes were now on her, expecting some kind of answer, smiled even more.  
After a short pause, which Kol was sure she only made to build up suspense, Briony picked up a small rock from the ground. She inspected it quickly and then turned to the brothers again. She said something with a laugh, and Kol had the impression that she didn't even want them understand. After she was done with her story about the rock, which she evidently enjoyed, she threw the stone back on the ground.  
Kol and Elijah exchanged looks. Maybe Briony wasn't the sane kind of girl.  
Then she closed her eyes and began chanting.   
"Should we do anything against it?" Kol asked.  
"I don't think we can," Elijah replied and took a step back. Kol had a bad feeling about this.  
When she was done with her chant, she opened her eyes again, obviously pleased with herself.  
The brothers looked at each other confused. What was that about? Then Kol felt it. The familiar feeling of the force that pulled him away at his back. The feeling when he got un-invited from a house. Just this time, it didn't make sense because they were standing on a meadow and not in a house. He wasn't the only one who was under the spell as he suddenly saw both his brothers struggling staying on their feet. Briony began to laugh in an almost child-like manner.   
Just as he expected to be pulled away to wherever he felt Briony's hand grab his arm. She turned to him and quickly interrupted her laughter to say something to him. Immeditately the pulling stopped and he stumbled forwards over his feet. His brothers weren't so lucky and he saw them fly over 100 feet across the meadow until they disappeared in a forest.  
Baffled, Kol looked into the direction to where they disappeared, while Briony next to him still laughed. To his own astonishment his dominant feeling about this was awe. Never had he seen his brothers so useless against an opposed power. He had a hard time repressing a smirk on his lips.

Shortly after Briony turned around and walked down the path the way they came from. Still baffled by what just happened Kol had trouble keeping up with Briony.  
"You agreed to meet with us just to mess with us, didn't you?" Kol said, slowly realizing what happened. "I have to admit I'm impressed," he continued with a laugh.  
Briony laughed too, still in a good mood after the success of her spell. He realized that she was heading home now that her work was done.   
When they reached the cottage she turned around to face him.

"I guess this is goodbye," Kol begun. He rested his view on Briony. "Now I almost wished you came with us. If you did that to my brothers on a regular basis we'd be great friends," Kol said.  
Briony replied to his laugh in the same manner.  
"Well, I'll let you be then. If you ever change your mind let me know," Kol continued, "I'm sure you got some spell up your sleeve to find me."  
Kol hesitated to step away. Somehow he felt that he'd regret it.  
Briony, too, hesitated to go back into the house. Kol wasn't sure what she was waiting for.  
"Okay, I should go look for my brothers now. It was nice meeting-" He couldn't finish the sentence as he suddenly felt her warm lips pressed against his. It took him completely by surprise as he felt her body touching his chest.

It must only have took a few seconds. Kol suddenly found himself walking towards the meadow for the search of his brothers. He wasn't sure if he even had said goodbye. Briony had smiled after the kiss but then shoved him away to leave.   
Kol's feet slowed down. He could still turn around and go back.  
He sighed. No, he couldn't leave his brothers right now. He would go and find them, they'd be angry but he'd calm them down and they'd probably go home.  
He already regretted his decision.


	4. Fire

**Present Day**

 

"I don't know why you're jealous of the witch bar's success. This one has much more class," Rebekah said as she sat on the bar stool and passed a view over the interior of the Stingaree. Unlike the other bar it looked orderly and the furniture actually matched. Rebekah was surprised that anything Marcel put together could look so tidy. It was just past noon and the bar was empty, but Rebekah definitely preferred it to the busy atmosphere of House Voltaire. 

"I'm not jealous of the witch bar," Marcel said, taken aback. "Did Davina say that? I don't do jealous!" 

Rebekah raised her hands with a laugh. "Fine, I take it back. No one's jealous of anything."

Her thoughts wandered back to the day before. She just couldn't explain what happened at the bar. The blonde woman was obviously scared from her, but Rebekah had no idea how she knew her. Before Rebekah could ask she had already left. All she saw was the back of the woman disappearing in the doorway from where she had come. After that Davina and her had decided to leave the bar. Rebekah had many questions, but Davina didn’t want to answer them amongst so many curious ears. When outside Davina had told her that the woman’s name was Freya, and that she had been in the coven for a while. However she never noticed anything special about her. Later, together with Marcel, they put together that the woman must know about the Originals, which probably meant she had told the whole coven by now. So much for a low profile entrance in New Orleans. 

 

"What else do you know about that woman? Freya?" she asked Marcel.

"Besides what I already told you not much. She arrived here a year ago or so. But that doesn't really stand out. The coven has gotten many new members in the last few years. We were wondering about that though, it's like they're preparing for something," he replied.

"Preparing?" 

"Gathering forces? We don't know. It just looks like they're building up something.”

This didn’t sound like news to Rebekah. From what she remembered, there was always someone up to something in New Orleans. It had been the same when they had lived here one hundred years earlier. She smiled. The last few years had been rather quiet. There was not much supernatural meddling in New York, and Rebekah and her brothers mostly stayed among themselves. This intricate intermezzo of supernatural beings that constantly battled each other felt like a surprisingly welcome change. Rebekah had never realised that she actually she missed this. How odd it felt to be yearning for trouble. 

“What's odd though," Marcel continued, who didn’t take on Rebekah’s sudden sense of nostalgia, "is how little there is to know about Freya. I asked one of my men to find out more about her, but he didn't find anything. No family, no birth certificate, no previous life."

"Sounds like she's a very private person," Rebekah concluded with a raised eyebrow. Those were usually the most dangerous ones, she thought.

"We should find out if she knows you in particular, or if she knows your brothers as well," Marcel suggested.

 

"Who might know us?" they heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance.

Rebekah turned around and saw Elijah and Nik standing in the doorway. Elijah entered first and Rebekah could tell from his face that she was about to get a lecture. Nik who first looked at her as well, slowly turned and inspected the bar. 

“Is this your place, Marcel?” he asked. Rebekah believed she could sense some awe in his voice. And some jealousy, but that didn’t surprise her. Apparently no one in this family could be content with their own achievements. 

Before Marcel had a chance to reply, Rebekah got up to her feet and demanded: ”What on earth are you doing here? How did you find me?!" she said, as she quickly got up to her feet.

Neither of them didn't look particularly happy. And she wasn't happy to see them.

Elijah walked over to her while throwing a large bag on one of the tables. Rebekah couldn't but be amazed that in their pursuit of her they even found time to pack.

"Rebekah, apart from the fact that you can't just run off in the middle of the night, you come here? To New Orleans?!"

"It's not a big a deal!" Rebekah replied offensively. 

"Yes it is!" Nik replied angrily.

“No it isn’t! It's only a big deal because you make it a big deal!" She didn't fully believe that, but she also didn't want to give in to her condescending brothers. 

"You're completely careless. There is a reason we never returned!" 

By now she stood nose to nose to them, which had happened more often than she wished in the last few years. She crossed her arms.

"I can go wherever I want! Just because you lot messed up, I don't need to follow your stupid restrictions!"

"Guys, can you please tone it down?" Marcel tried to weigh in, who out of old habit knew to stay in the background. But no one paid attention to him.

"You're not even considering that I thought about my actions! That I came here for a reason! No, stupid Rebekah only does things because she's an idiot!" Rebekah shouted back. Why could they never leave her alone? Their faces alone made her furious.

"At least tell us, Beks, before you put yourself in mortal danger!" Nik replied angrily.

"No one is in mortal danger here except you two because I'm about to stab you with this coffee spoon!"

Marcel tried again, a bit louder this time: "Guys, you're scaring away costumers?"

"Oh please, nobody's here, Marcel," Rebekah snapped back.

"Rude," Marcel replied meekly. "At least don't destroy the furniture. Please.”

 

Elijah took a step back. Trying hard to restrain himself he said: "Okay, let's all take a deep breath." 

Between teeth he added slowly: "Can you kindly tell us why you're here, Rebekah?"

Rebekah crossed her arms again. She considered a few new insults, but then again, she didn’t want to be the one who started the new quarrel. No, she was the reasonable one, she reminded herself.

"Sure," she replied clenching her teeth. Then she told them about Marcel's letter and what happened the day before. While she kept talking, her brothers became less agitated and listened intensely. It took her about five minutes, in which all of them had calmed down and sat down on the chairs in a crescent circle. At the end of her story they seemed to have forgotten about the fight they just had.

 

When she was done they sat in the bar in silence. Only now that Rebekah had told the events to her brothers she began to realize the gravity of the situation. Not once, in the thousand years of their lifetime, had anyone ever been connected to their family in this way. She was completely unaware that this was even possible. In her brother’s faces she could read that they thought the same.

Nik spoke first: "If she's got Mikaelson blood in her...What does that mean? Blood spell?"

"We thought about that too," Marcel replied, "but those kind of spells are pretty hardcore witchcraft. Davina would have noticed if someone with those kinds of skills would be in New Orleans."

"Well, let's not rule it out because of it. Personally I didn’t even know that was possible. Could it be a group of witches even?”

Marcel raised his shoulders. There were clearly enough witches in New Orleans, but Rebekah doubted they had knowledge for something like this, especially ini regards to Davina’s earlier comment that most of them didn’t even know about the Originals until now. 

“The other question though is what she wants," Elijah continued when nobody replied. "She must know us somehow. She wasn't one of the witches of the coven in the 20s I take it?”

"No, I would have recognized her," Marcel replied.

"Also unlikely, considering they all died," Rebekah added quietly. She peaked at Nik who looked sightly uncomfortable and didn't say anything.

"Angry witch relative maybe?" Elijah suggested.

"I don't think we get far with speculating," Rebekah said. The only thing they could be sure of was that Freya had some sort of connection to them. They needed to confront her again.

Rebekah didn't expect the talk to happen immediately, but to her surprise Freya suddenly came through the door. 

 

 

**1705, London, One week later**

 

"And then Nik and Elijah literally flew across the meadow! Completely helpless! You should have been there. It was, by far, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!” Kol laughed, and threw another piece of wood into the fire. They sat in the living room in their townhouse in London. It was unusual cool evening in late spring, and the fireplace was the only light source throwing shadows over the chairs and the sofa in the room. Rebekah next to him listened enchantedly and laughed as well. It was not the first time she had heard the story but that didn't diminish her delight.

"I almost regret that I stayed here," she replied. “But then again, I’m glad I didn’t have to search through the village several times while walking through ankle deep mudd.”

“Frankly, Rebekah, in the aftermath I don’t even mind that part anymore. It was worth the trouble!” Kol announced celebratorily.

"You wouldn't find it that funny if you had been the one flying across the meadow," Elijah replied from the back, who, after a week of constant humiliation, had grown tired of the topic. He stretched his legs across the carpet and leaned his head at the back of the chair. But Kol wasn't ready to let go of it just yet. He turned to Elijah.

"But it wasn't me who flew across the meadow. You know why, Elijah? Because I'm friendly to people."

"I wouldn't consider how you behaved to that girl as just 'friendly'," Elijah snorted.

"I have to agree with Elijah there," Rebekah said reproachful, "making out with this woman while your brothers could be in peril... Honestly, Kol."

"It wasn't like that," he waved her down. Then he added: "I wish it was like that. Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal, even though some people might haven taken it very seriously."

 

They hadn't seen Niklaus since that day. After Kol had found his brothers - completely unharmed, as he kept telling them - Nik somehow had the impression that what happened was Kol's fault. It was a mystery to Kol how he in any way could have foreseen these events. He had been trying to explain to Nik that he hadn't understood anything that Briony did neither, but Nik wouldn't listen. According to him, it was very suspicious that Kol had stayed unharmed. After their fight Nik stormed away, and eventually Elijah and Kol decided to go home without him. 

"How long do you think will he not speak to me?" Kol replied, rather untouched. This had happened so many times before. By now Kol had lost count how often Nik had gotten so angry that he decided to ignore Kol. He was just glad he hadn't staked him again. He wondered if Nik went to look for Finn again. The only person who had more fights with Nik than Kol was Finn, but usually when he got into a fight with one of them, it was usually time to forgive the other.

"He can't be mad at you for that long. He must realize that you had nothing to with it," Rebekah replied as she played with the ember that occasionally sprung out of the fire.

"I can't really speak in your favor concerning your behaviour in the situation, because I'm sure I heard you laughing. But I agree it wasn't your fault. And Niklaus will eventually get that, too." Elijah added.

"I didn't laugh. A little bit maybe," Kol replied with a smirk.

"I'm amazed how any of you still don't know when to shut up,” Elijah concluded with a small laugh and got up.

 

The night drew on and soon after Elijah and Rebekah retired to their rooms and left Kol behind by himself. He took over Elijah's chair and looked inside the fireplace. The ember was almost gone. His followed the small glowing pieces that danced until they disappeared in the air. The room still smelled like fire. Kol always liked this about their London home, the smell of fire that reminded of being outside. He smiled again, as he relived his memory of the current events. He liked telling that story, and not just because he could continually tease his brothers with it. The kiss. It was a nice memory. The sensation of regret slowly crept up his spine. It had been there since the moment he left the village, but he couldn’t fully say what it was, why his gut told him he should have stayed behind.

His feet felt warm. He was surprised the fireplace still exhaled so much warmth. The last few pieces of ember had almost disappeared by now. 

Wait, where was this smell coming from? Now Kol was sure the smell of fire got stronger. It couldn’t be the fireplace. It was almost completely dark. Something wasn't right. He got up.

His feet jumped back as they touched the ground. It felt like he was standing on a stove. He tried to move away but with every step the pain got worse. The boiling ground immediately burnt through his soles and burnt off the skin of his feet. The smell of his molten skin crept in his nose but that was nothing compared to the pain. With all his might he tried to stay upright so the rest of his body wouldn’t touch the invisible source of heat. It was too dark to see anything but he was sure his feet were on fire. Before he could do anything else his lungs filled with smoke and he began coughing. He tried to shout but nothing except an incomprehensable gasp came out of his mouth. Unable to counter the invisible attack, he felt the fire creeping up his legs and he was forced to fall on his knees. Now the fire moved quickly over his whole body. Everything happened so fast. Kol didn't have much time to realize what was happening but between burning to death and suffocating from the smoke he was sure he was going to die.

Suddenly he heard a loud scream that filled the room. The scream pierced his ears but he didn’t care where it came from, as his eyes watered until he was completely unable to see anything and they slowly gave in to the darkness. It was the last thing he remembered. He didn't feel his body smashing on the ground.

 

"Kol?"

Elijah was hovering over him and shaking him. Everything was turning. It took Kol a while to figure out where he was. He heard his name again.

"Can you hear me?"

Kol tried to give an answer but the words didn't come out as easily as he wanted. Slowly his view cleared and he saw Elijah's shape more clearly. Next to him he recognized Rebekah, with the same worried face as Elijah. Again he tried to say something but his brain and mouth didn't seem to work in sync just yet.

"Let's pull him up."

He felt how his siblings lifted him into a sitting position. They rested him against an armchair. His head slowly stopped spinning. He realized he was still in the living room.

"Ouch," he said. 

"What happened, Kol?" he heard Elijah saying.

What did happen? That unimaginable pain. Kol looked at his feet and legs. They looked intact. Nothing hurt. How did he heal so quickly? 

"I..." he mumbled, "was on fire. I think."

"What?" Elijah asked confused, who too looked at Kol's unharmed legs. Kol realized that his pants weren't burnt either. That didn’t make sense.

"Who screamed?" Elijah asked, turning back to Kol.

"Screamed?" Kol repeated.

"There was someone screaming. We heard it and ran in here. But it was just you here lying on the ground," Rebekah said.

Kol tried to get his thoughts together and recapitulated. "I smelled smoke and I was… I thought I was on fire. I heard a scream, but I don't know where it came from." 

As he heard himself retelling what happened he realized something wasn't right. His words were true and the same time they weren't. Was he really on fire? He couldn't be. The whole situation that just happened felt like a memory. But now it dawned on him that it might not be his.

Was it even him that was on fire?

Suddenly he knew where the pain was coming from.

"The witch," he mumbled and he tried to sit up right. "Briony. I think she's dying."

 

After a few minutes to regain his strength Kol made a decision. He was back in his room and grabbed a bag and  nervously thought about what to pack. He was going back to the Welsh village. After a few seconds he abolished his packing schedule again and decided to just leave right now. He didn’t need to bring anything. His nerves were on high. Whatever had happened to him told him that the situation contained an urgency that couldn't wait any second longer.

Before he could rush out, however, Rebekah and Elijah appeared in his door.

"Let's think about it for a second, Kol. Don't just rush out into the night before you know what you're in for," Elijah urged him.

"No time to think about it," Kol said, quickly reconsidering his bag. Maybe he should bring human food? Clothes?

"Why do you even think she wants your help?" Elijah asked again.

"Because I told her she could contact me," Kol replied impatiently. He could get food on the way, if needed, that should be enough.

"Didn't you say she wouldn't understand a word you were saying?" Rebekah asked.

"I'm sure she got the gist," Kol answered absent-mindedly.

"Kol," Elijah began, "you have to admit it's a bit fishy. This woman has been messing with us for the sole reason of her having the powers to do so. How do you know it's not happening again? That she's playing you?"' 

Kol didn't have time for this. He couldn't explain it but seldomly in his life had he been so sure of a thing. He turned to his siblings who were still blocking the door. "It's simple. I'm going right now and you cannot stop me. You can either stay here or come with me."


	5. Second Encounters

**PresentDay**

 

There she sat at the bar with her flowy blond hair talking to Marcel and some others Freya couldn't see from the corner of the window. Freya had just walked over from the pier and was set on finally having the confrontation she had been thinking of for a long time. 

She remembered the first time she had seen her sister in the 1920s. Her heart had made a little jump when she had realized it was her little sister. Back then she had actively searched for her siblings, still thinking they were good people she wanted in her life. Until then she hadn’t even known herself that she wanted a family. But suddenly it had become such a real possibility. Just like now Freya had observed her from afar. She remembered how angry she was with herself that she didn’t have the courage to talk to her in that moment and had left instead. But later, after she had seen how they killed innocent people and what they were capable of doing only to save their own lives, she was glad that her brothers and sister didn’t know she existed. Not this family of monsters. As the years went by she eventually had decided that she wasn’t interested in having a family at all, not even a little sister. Her whole life she had been by herself and it had worked out fine. And her previous encounter with Rebekah and her brothers were just a reminder why she never wanted a family.

For a second Freya contemplated her own reflection in the window. There was definitely a similarity between her and Rebekah. They couldn’t be mistaken for twins but one could see they were related if one knew. Mostly the hair, Freya thought. Rebekah’s hair was straight and Freya wondered if it was always like that or if it was naturally curly like her own. They had a similar facial structure as well, but the expressions couldn’t be further apart. Her own face looked smarter, sterner, Freya thought. How Rebekah’s face could look so innocent after everything she had done was a mystery to Freya.

She was hoping she could catch Rebekah alone but Freya didn’t know if it made sense to wait until the other people left. Time was pressing, she told herself. And now she still had the element of surprise, one of the few advantages she had over vampires. No, it didn't matter that other people would hear her. She'd tell anyone who was around. And she could handle some low basic vampires, that she was sure of it. Sooner or later the whole town would know about their family ties anyway. 

With one last deep breath she marched to the door and swung it open.

Immediately she caught Rebekah's eyes and she took a few steps towards her. They all sat up quickly. Freya felt the others’ eyes on her but she kept hers fixed on Rebekah. 

Before anyone else could say anything, Freya begun: "Leave me alone, you low-life have no right to look for me. I don't know how you found me, but let me tell you I don't want to know you. You mean nothing to m-" 

Freya's voice broke off. Those faces. Elijah. Niklaus. She suddenly realized that Rebekah wasn't her only sibling in the room. She looked back and forth between the three, using all her might not to shake. Their eyes were all fixed on her. She didn’t know where to look. Her throat felt like it was blocked by piece of rock.

"Uhm, who are you again, love?" she heard Rebekah saying. 

But Freya barely registered her. _Keep it together,_ _Freya._ She remembered that she had to breathe. None of them spoke, which gave her a moment to get back on track. _One or three is not a big difference. Stick to the plan._ Her head felt like a swarm of bees. She stared at the chair between Rebekah and Niklaus. 

With a shaky voice she continued: "You're terrible people and I don't want to have anything to do with you. I don't need you in my life."

She didn’t dare to look up anymore but she really hoped that this performance looked somewhat convincing.

"Who are you?" Niklaus asked her again while his eyes studied her face.

Freya rolled her eyes. The stupid question gave her back some courage. Dealing with idiocy by lecturing people usually came easy to her. "No need to play games. I know that you know about me. Else you wouldn't be here."

Her three siblings exchanged looks, but Freya couldn't tell what they thought. She grew impatient and balled her hands to fists, anything to give her strength.

"What is it you think we know?" Elijah asked her.

 

Freya studied his face. It was blank. She wasn’t sure if she just didn’t know him enough to read his face, but he looked confused. The other two had the same expression. Doubt came over her. Were they serious? Did they actually not know her? Or was it all just a trick? Did they play a game with her? _It must be_ , Freya thought. Terrible people like to play games.

"Very funny. Let's cut the jest and be serious. We all know why you're looking for me. And I tell you I don't care,” she repeated and crossed her arms. She felt how how deep down some tears were making their way to her eyes, but Freya forced them down again. No, she wouldn’t cry over something like this. And she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of her tears.

"We don't know who you are!" Rebekah replied to her impatiently.

Freya took a step back. Her legs began shaking again. Were they actually telling the truth? Rebekah still looked at her impatiently, Niklaus had a somewhat anticipating look and Elijah observed her with a skeptical expression. 

A realization slowly overwhelmed her. No, this couldn’t be happening. Her stomach turned upside down with the thought that she might just have openly introduced herself to the people she was hiding from for over 90 years. Could this situation get any worse?

Her mind began racing. What to do? So far they didn't know who she was, and Freya's gut told her to leave it at that and just turn and run. But her brain knew she wouldn't get far now that she made herself suspicious. She wouldn’t even make it to the door. They wouldn’t let her leave. Might as well rip the band-aid off as quickly as possible. There was no time to consider any consequences and she made a decision. 

 

"I am…” Freya tried to sound as firm as she possibly could, "your sister."

Freya took a deep silent breath. Dumbfounded, they all stared at her in silence. She had to admit their surprise looked genuine. Maybe they weren't lying after all.

"No way."  Marcel broke the silence. But Niklaus turned him down with a gesture, while keeping his eyes fixed on Freya. She slowly took a step back.

"He's right. That cannot be," he added.

"It's true," Freya replied, this time with a firm voice. She couldn’t explain it where it came from, but her superior knowledge about the relation to her siblings gave her some courage. It was the last straw of agency she could have over them.

Again they all looked at her in silence. Again Freya moved her eyes between Rebekah, Niklaus and Elijah, but they all had the same unreadable expression. She couldn’t tell where this was going.

After a pause that felt like an eternity, Elijah suddenly said: "I'm sorry but this is a very weak attempt to get to us.”

 

Freya couldn't believe it. First they didn't know who she was and now they didn't even believe her? She was honestly offended that they’d think she would make up a story like this. Did they think she wanted this? Are they really so full of themselves to think that somebody wants to be related to them? 

“Why would I make up something like this?” she barked. Again she was close to tears, but this time they were tears of anger.

Elijah seemed surprisingly untouched by the whole thing.

“I don’t know. You tell us.”

Her finger nails pressed against her palms. Until now she didn’t even think it was possible to loathe them as much as in this moment. It was humiliating. This is not how she thought this conversation would play out at all. It couldn’t get any messier than this.

She remembered her earlier gut feeling to leave the place right this moment and this time she followed it. She didn’t care anymore if they’d try to stop her or fight her, anything was better than speaking one more word with anyof them. Without losing any last look on her brothers or sister she turned around and marched to the door and left the bar. To her own surprise, no one stopped her.

 

 

**1705, Ysbyty Ifan**

 

Kol surveyed the gloomy meadow leading up to the village they had left a week earlier. A grisly fuzz of rain fell on his skin, but he almost didn’t notice. He had more pressing thoughts on his mind. From afar the village looked just the way they had left it, very quiet in this cool and dark morning.

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” he said, turning to Elijah and Rebekah next to him.

“You thought we’d just let you go by yourself?” Elijah replied softly.

“Thanks,” Kol answered. 

To be honest he was glad they came with him.Whatever happened a day earlier, and he still couldn’t fully explain it, was something he had never experienced like that. Never before had he felt so close to death, and if that was expecting him here again he was glad his siblings were on his side.

 

They slowly walked along the muddy main road through the village. Now from a close view it was clear that the village had changed. Something in the air was different. Window blinds were shut, there was no one outside. Here and there they heard a muffling behind a door. Compared to the vivid life they had encountered the last time the village now felt empty. Behind a slit in a window shutter Kol thought he had seen a pair of eyes, but they disappeared the moment he saw them. He realized they weren’t welcome guests anymore. 

“Kol,” Rebekah said. 

Kol turned to her. She seemed worried. When he caught her eye she nodded into the direction of the alley that led to the main square. His heart began to race as he saw dark pillars of dust rising on the empty square. He rushed towards it with big steps. If the view hadn’t given it away, the smell would have. Something had burned here recently. He walked up to the grand black circle on the ground. There was a black tree stump in the middle, or what was left of it, surrounded with ashes and burned coal. Kol’s eyes nervously searched the ground. He couldn’t make out any human parts or anything else. The fire had burned for too long. 

He looked around the square. Same as everywhere else, the windows and doors were shut. Nothing to give away what had happened. 

“I’m sorry, Kol.” He felt Rebekah’s hand on his arm. He pulled his arm away from her grip. It couldn’t be true.

“No,” he simply said and began searching the surroundings. He walked up and down the square, frantically searching, not really knowing where to go, who to ask for information. 

“Kol, that won’t help,” Elijah interrupted. He and Rebekah still stood in the middle of the square, following his movements with their eyes, worried. 

“You don’t know that she died!” he shouted. He didn’t want to sound so upset, but he didn’t seem to fully master his emotions anymore. There was no reason to be upset, he told himself. Because she couldn’t be dead. She mustn’t be.

“You do smell the burned human flesh, right?” Rebekah asked. Kol smelled it, too. 

“That means someone had burnt here. We don’t know if it was the witch, but they have definitely burned someone at the stake here.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Kol replied, mostly to himself. Why would he be led here if she was already dead? Why would she want him to help if didn’t even have the capability to do so?

The cottage. He suddenly had a realization. There he might be able to find out more. He turned again and headed towards the small road that led out of the village to the mountains and towards Briony’s cottage. 

“Kol, wait,” Elijah said, as he and Rebekah tried to keep up with him. 

Kol didn’t take the time to turn around to face them, or even register them. No, he needed to get to the cottage as quick as possible. They reached the last few houses of the village and the road grew rockier and muddier. 

“Kol,” Rebekah said again, slightly behind him.

He ignored her and kept walking. She couldn’t be dead. This is not how he wanted this to end.

“Kol!” Elijah shouted from further behind. 

“What?!” Kol turned around, slightly irritated. He started to regret that he brought his two siblings along. Then saw Elijah and Rebekah standing several ten feet behind him, rooted at the spot.

“Why aren’t you moving?” he asked them impatiently. 

“Because we can’t,” Elijah answered.

Kol took a few steps back towards them and observed. “What do you mean, you can’t? Why not?”

Elijah considered it for a moment, and then came to a realization: “It must the invitation spell from Briony. Do you remember how she invited you but un-invited Niklaus and me from her home which is this ground? This must be the border.”

“Oh,” Kol replied. He had completely forgot about that part. He didn’t even consider that this spell could be anything longterm.

“Wait, this is the spell you were talking about?” Rebekah interrupted. “You know what that means, right?”

Elijah and Kol looked at her.

“If the spell is still intact,” she replied, “she must be alive.”

Kol’s heart sank. 

“You’re right,” he replied with new found energy. Now he only had to find her. He just had to get to the cottage.

“You two just wait here!” he said to his siblings. “Or anywhere else, I don’t care. I’ll be back as soon as I got her!”

Without giving them a chance to reply he rushed off along the path that led to the cottage.

 

As he got closer to the cottage he could already smell it. More fire, more smoke. It didn’t matter, he told himself, she was alive somewhere. When he arrived at the spot where the cottage used to stand, there was not much left of it anymore. It looked even worse than he imagined. All there was left was part of the back wall. Everything else had fallen together and buried whatever was underneath with fire and ashes. The heavy rain of the days before only made it worse and destroyed and washed away what might have survived. It was hard to believe that the place he was only a week earlier had been the same as this one. He walked around the ruins of the house. There was nothing to salvage. And she wasn’t here. There was no smell of burned human flesh either.

But he smelled something else. Someone was in the woods behind the ruins of the house. He followed his instincts and made way for whoever was hiding in the forest.

It didn’t take long and he arrived at a small glade. It was still raining and he heard the drops whirring on the long grass. Then he saw her. She was sitting at the edge of the glade, staring apathetically into nowhere. 

“Briony?” 

He only realized now that her hair and her dress were soaked wet. She looked up to him in surprise. Her eyes were red and swollen. Slowly he walked over to her. She swept her wet hair out of her face, but didn’t show any intention of getting up.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Kol said. “Are you alright?”

She didn’t reply. Her skin had a blue-ish tone,which made Kol wonder how long she had been out here.

“Have you been sitting here in the rain the whole time? That can’t be too good for mortals,” Kol tried again. “Not that I’m an authority on that matter.”

Briony looked at him but then turned away and buried her face in her hands. She began sobbing quietly. Hesitantly, Kol sat down next to her.

“The way I understand it, they found out you’re a witch and tried to burn you at the stake. I’m not sure how you survived that, but I’m glad you did,” he said. Then he added: “And my brothers and me being here last week as total strangers and prancing around your house probably didn’t help in that witch hunt situation either. I’m sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Briony didn’t look up again, and they sat next to each other in silence. 

They stayed like this for at least an hour, and Kol was a bit worried about her still sitting in the rain, but then it did seem the best idea to wait for her until she was ready to react. After a few minutes his clothes were soaked with water as well and a cold sticky feeling dispersed over his body. He could only imagine how she felt after a day like this.

Eventually she looked up. Her eyes still looked the same as before. 

“Do you wanna go somewhere warm?” he asked her and held out his hand to her. 

With a weak smile she took his hand, and he lifted her up. She was shaking but seemed resolute enough to follow him wherever he went. He led her back through the forest, never letting go of her hand. Sometimes he talked or made a comment, and she weakly smiled at him but never replied. Still he had the impression, the talking lifted her mood a bit.

 

They eventually found Elijah and Rebekah on the edge of the forest. Kol figured it wasn’t the smartest idea for Briony’s peace of mind or her safety to walk her right back into the village, and therefore decided to take a detour. And since she didn’t show any kind of protest, he believed she agreed with his plan. Elijah and Rebekah awaited them eagerly. 

“What happened to her?” Rebekah asked, slightly in worry by the drenched clothes.

“Found her in the woods. I think she was hiding the whole time,” Kol explained. Then he turned to Briony who already mustered Rebekah. “Briony, this is my sister Rebekah. You already know Elijah,” he said as he nodded to his siblings.

Briony regarded them intently but then seemed to accept them. She looked around in search for something. Then she turned to Kol and asked him a question. When he didn’t reply she repeated the sentence slightly differently.

“You’re asking where my brother Nik is?” Kol guessed.

Briony nodded. 

“He’s not here.” 

Kol couldn’t tell what she made with this piece of information. After this it didn’t need much to convince her to come with them. Kol had the impression she had already made up her mind before. Considering the options she had left he wasn’t surprised. 

 

As they sat in the carriage on the road back to London, Kol reflected on the events of the last few days. He felt Briony’s head resting on his shoulder. She hadn’t cried again but was obviously upset, but after a while in the carriage she had eventually fallen asleep. Kol figured it must have been the first time in a while. Elijah who sat across him gave him a meaningful look. Kol immediately understood what he meant, because he was thinking the same. The absence of their brother in regards to the witch hunt was highly suspicious. The moment Kol had stepped out of the door in London a feeling had crept up his back that this is probably not a coincidence.

“So?” Elijah asked, clearly suggesting that he also thought about Nik.

“So what? Is there anything we can do about it?” Kol replied.

“What are you implying?” Rebekah asked, sitting next to Elijah who until now had looked out of the window but now turned to them. Both Elijah and Kol gave her the same meaningful look.

“You think Nik outed her as a…” she looked to Briony, who was still asleep. “You mean he did that to get back to her?” she asked again. “No, he wouldn’t do that!”

“Really?” Kol snarled. “He has done worse to people who did less to him.”

“It’s just,” Rebekah tried again, “why would he do that? He wanted to pull her to his side, didn’t he?”

“I don’t think he cared much about that anymore when he left,” Kol replied. 

“I thought about that too actually,” Elijah said. 

Kol raised an eyebrow.

“When he left right after Briony’s spell against him,” Elijah continued, “without any sign of retaliation or revenge, I thought he might consider giving it a second attempt to convince her to come with us. At a later point, when he made a new plan. Why else would he not even try to attack her? It seemed so unusual for him.”

“And you still think that?” Kol asked skeptically.

“After tonight? Not really.”

 

 


	6. Weird Sister Fantasy

_ **Present Day** _

The events of the afternoon still flew around in Rebekah's head. She had no idea what to do with Freya and her tale. Before they could ask her anything else she had already left the bar. Rebekah had been too baffled to do anything about it, and it was obvious the others had felt the same. What do you do with someone who claims to be a relative? Kill them? It felt so odd. Elijah and Marcel kept arguing about any solutions, how to find out how she got Mikaelson blood in her but they hadn't gotten any smarter than before. Nik was sure it was joke, or even a well-planned diversion from something bigger. But he wasn’t there when Rebekah had seen Freya for the first time. That didn’t look like someone who was only a distraction for someone else. However, they could agree on one thing: Freya couldn't possibly tell the truth.

In the meantime they had returned to the mansion at the edge of the city. It might be have been that she got adjusted to the _new_ New Orleans by now but unlike the townhouse Rebekah actually looked forward to returning to the mansion. Theoretically Marcel was free to use it whenever and however he liked, but when they arrived it became clear he hadn't been there in years. In fact Rebekah still recognized most of the now anachronistic furniture and fading wall paint from the last time she had been there. 

Elijah and Nik immediately decided to do more research on Freya. Rebekah couldn’t see how they were supposed to be more successful in that task than Marcel and Davina, but they didn’t listen to her. Rebekah only rolled their eyes as they took off for town again before they even set foot in their house.

As she settled in, her mind kept sliding back to the blood spells. Hard core witchcraft, Marcel said. It was clear that Davina wasn't knowledgeable enough to figure out anything in regards to that. They needed a better witch. Rebekah looked up to the ceiling. She had a feeling on where they could find one. She rushed up the stairs,into the attic and looked around in the dusty dark room, searching. Then she saw the three huge wooden boxes in the corner that she herself put there 90 years earlier. Back then she had told everyone it was only her stuff, but actually it wasn't. She was pleased to see that apparently nobody had ever checked what’s inside. Else the boxes would have been long gone. One by one she lifted them and carried them down into her old room. She opened one of the boxes and saw the big piles of notes and booklets that were full of Briony's handwriting. She remembered that Briony insisted on documenting every spell she did, every bit of magic that occurred. Back then Rebekah had always thought that was excessive, especially since she thought that none of them would ever leave or lose that kind of knowledge, but now it dawned on her that Briony had been warier than her in that aspect. After opening the first booklet and skimming the first pages, facing the vast amount of information that they contained, she realized she needed help to get through this.

 

"I had no idea you kept all of this," Marcel said in awe as Rebekah showed him and Davina her room where she stationed the boxes with Briony's notes. 

"No one did," Rebekah replied. Probably the only reason why it was still here, she thought again.

They split up and took a box each and rummaged through the caskets.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Davina asked, as Marcel already skimmed through the things in his box and smiled, obviously only interested in the memorabilia.

"Anything that could give us a clue of how Freya could do a blood spell with Mikaelson blood. Briony wrote down almost every spell she ever did so it might take a while to find anything. But if anyone ever knew about how to do advanced blood spells it's her," Rebekah replied. With her little speech Marcel began to pay attention as well. 

"What happened to her?" Davina asked, as she slowly lifted the first notebook from her box.

Rebekah and Marcel exchanged looks.

Where to begin?

"Short version?" Marcel said. "She pissed off Nik. Big time."

 

It was difficult to work with a system with the many loose sheets of paper and notebooks that seemed completely disjointed. Luckily, Briony's handwriting had been neat and she kept her notes in order, so they managed to get through the many single sheets of paper quickly. It didn’t take long and Rebekah’s room was plastered with booklet and papers. Without them noticing the time passed by, each of them delved into their box. After several hours they were only half-way through, and Rebekah began to lose hope. This seemed to be an endless task and they hadn’t gotten any further in their search. 

"This might be something," Davina eventually said. "She writes about spells she did on Original vampires."

After a few seconds she added excitedly: “Blood spells!”

The others stopped their own work and looked at Davina with anticipation. She waved them down and kept reading. When she was done she said without looking up: "She writes her blood spells with Original blood don't work all the time. Only under particular circumstances. She writes that she stole Original's blood a few times and that didn't work. But when she was offered the blood from the vein, by free will, the spell always turned out the way she wanted."

Marcel turned to Rebekah with a smirk: "Did you know she did tests on you guys?" 

Rebekah shook her head. "Doesn't surprise me to be honest."

"Who would offer blood to her though?"

"Are you serious? Kol, obviously. God knows what else these two were into."

"But do you understand what this means?" Davina interrupted them, agitated. "Freya could only have done a blood spell to connect her blood to yours if any of you offered it to her first. Did you, Rebekah?"

"I haven't offered anyone blood in decades, centuries even, unless they were turned into vampires afterwards," Rebekah said. And she would remember if she gave it to Freya at one point.

"What about your brothers?" Davina asked.

Rebekah wasn't sure, but highly doubted that either Elijah or Nik would offer blood to anyone lightly, especially anyone they didn't know. 

 

Her assumption was confirmed when her brothers returned from town. Neither Elijah nor Nik had offered anyone blood they weren't sure had turned into a vampire later. Not only that, but neither Elijah nor Nik had ever seen Freya before. 

“And did you find out anything that we didn’t already know while you were in town?” Rebekah asked artificially.

“Actually Rebekah,” Nik said with a smirk, “we did.”

“Well, we found out something about where she’s from. It might be useful,” Elijah added.

The others looked at them expectantly.

“We went to her apartment,” Nik said.

“Yeah, we already know where that is,” Marcel interrupted him. 

“We went to her apartment,” Nik began again, staring at Marcel to shut him up, “and we had a chat with her landlord. She’s from Denmark, apparently. Her landlord told us that this is where she sent her application from before she moved in. The place is called Sjaellands Odde, a rural area. She’s not married and doesn’t have any children. He also told us that she lived there in a rather stately home, all by herself. He knows this because he saw a photograph in her kitchen.”

“How does he…” Rebekah slowly put it together.

“Her landlord’s behaviour is very stalker-y, yes,” Nik replied.

“This is terrible,” Davina added, aghast.

“I’m not sure if we should feel sorry for Freya in that regard yet, but nobody has to worry about that landlord anymore. We figured nobody would miss him much if we get rid of him. At least he can’t tell anyone what he told us when he’s dead,” Elijah replied.

 

However, this didn’t help them any further in the question what Freya possibly did with Original blood. Davina reassured them again that they couldn’t have been tricked into giving someone blood. Someone would have to willingly give it to her in order to work. 

"What else could it be then?" Nik asked, his eyes hovering over the notes in the boxes in Rebekah's room.

"Depends," Davina replied, still holding Briony's notes on blood spells in her hands. 

"Depends on what?" Nik asked.

"On how much credit you give to your witch friend. If what she writes is true, there is really no way around it. Freya couldn't have done a blood spell that worked, which leaves only one option: she must be naturally related to you."

Rebekah exchanged looks with Elijah. And she saw in his face that he thought the same as she did. Briony would never make a mistake like this.

"Could there be even the slightest possibility" Elijah said slowly, "that Freya is telling the truth?"

 

 

_ **1705 London** _

In the following days Kol had been busy acclimatising Briony to their London home. They were still unsure if she had any intention to stay with them but so far she hadn't protested to anything he suggested. Rebekah was fascinated by his interest in Briony and her well-being. She had never seen him so invested in a human being, and for that alone she was for all for keeping the girl in the house. 

They hadn't heard anything from Nik yet. Rebekah was torn about if that was a good sign or not. She dreaded the moment he would turn up back home and see that they brought the witch here. If it was actually him trying to kill her, and he found out that they saved her instead, even took her in, there would be more than one person with a stake in their hearts. 

Or maybe he didn’t want to kill her at all. 

She expressed her doubts to Elijah.

"Funny how she ended up here after all, isn’t it?” Rebekah said as she heard Kol rummaging in the kitchen. She doubted he knew what he was doing there.

"You think?" Elijah asked.

Slowly Rebekah formed the rest of her thoughts. 

She asked: "Do you think Nik planned all of this? Do you think he knew she'd end up here?"

"Yup," Elijah answered shortly. Then he added with affirmation: "He knew he'd only get her to stay with us if it was her choice. I think he knew exactly that Kol would figure out she was in danger and would go to her and bring her to London. We did exactly what he wanted."

Rebekah sighed. ”I hate when he does that."

"Yup."

 

Rebekah opened the kitchen door and found Kol hovering over a greasy and weirdly smoking pan. Until a few days ago the kitchen had always been the cleanest room in house, a bit dusty maybe, because it was the room they used the least. Now it looked like a hoard a buffalos just went through. Kol seemed eager to cook, but apparently hadn’t taken on the habit of cleaning up afterwards. 

“What on earth is that supposed to be?” she asked him, as she inspected the brown mass that was swimming in the pan. 

“Used to be eggs,” Kol replied indifferently. “I don’t think they’re supposed to look like this.”

“Depends. Do you wanna kill her with that?” Rebekah said with a laugh.

Kol didn’t bother to look up. “Funny.” 

He took the pan off the fire and threw it into the wash basin, on top of the rest of the dirty kitchen utensils. Then he turned to the basket of the food he bought.

“Apples it is then. Can’t do much wrong there.”

“She’s better then?” Rebekah eventually asked. She actually didn’t have any indication that Briony was better, but somehow, by articulating her words like this, she hoped they might come true. Kol seemed took a similar approach.

“I guess so,” he said. “Not worse, definitely.”

After a pause, the smile in his face faded a little.

“I don’t know what to do about the crying. It’s kinda hard if you can’t say anything she understands.”

Rebekah understood. But she didn’t know what to say.

Kol added: “You’re a girl, Rebekah. What would cheer you up?”

“I don’t know. It probably depends on what the problem is.”

“Well, how about some jerk burned down your home and turned everyone you know against you? But for some reason you agreed to go with the jerk’s family to London? A fact you’re probably start regretting at some point?”

Rebekah gave a small laugh. “Well, I can relate to the jerk part, because we’ve been living with him for several centuries.”

“Do you want me to try to talk to her?” she asked. She wasn’t sure where that sudden idea came from. Between Kol, Elijah and herself she felt like she knew her the least, only meeting her the first time after she got exposed. 

“Would you?” Kol seemed relieved. “That’d be great!”

Rebekah smiled weakly. She doubted she could make a big difference. But perhaps that kind of objective distance she still had helped. Kol nodded eagerly and she realized he expected her to have that talk right that moment. With a sigh she turned around and moved back to the door.

Before she left for upstairs she said: “I doubt she’s regretting it, Kol.”

 

She knocked at Briony’s bedroom door and slowly opened it. Briony sat at on the window seat and absently looked outside. Since she arrived she hadn’t made any indication to leave the room and they didn’t see any reason why they should force her. When Rebekah hesitantly stepped in Briony looked up to her. Her eyes were red, but she wasn’t crying. She looked miserable though. Rebekah’s presence didn’t seem to distress her, so Rebekah took a few steps closer. 

“So, how are you doing?” Rebekah asked.

Briony was wearing one of her dresses. Rebekah had given it to her when they had arrived, since Briony’s dress had been partially burned.

“The dress fits,” she continued, “that’s great.”

Awkwardly she moved a bit closer, while Briony observed her. She understood now what Kol meant. How can you cheer someone up if you can’t even tell if they understand you? 

Eventually she decided to sit down next to Briony on the window seat. Outside it was raining. Rebekah thought about mentioning it, but then changed her mind. No, she wasn’t going to talk about mundane things like the weather, when that poor girl just lost her whole existence. Unsure, she turned around and looked at the table on the other side of the room. There were some books on it and some plates from the kitchen. Some of them had leftovers on it. 

“Kol is feeding you alright. He’s trying but I’m afraid cooking is not one of his talents. Not that I would be better at it, but it’s pretty funny to watch him,” she said with a small laugh.

Briony smiled too.

“I’m sorry for you though. I hope at least some stuff he brings you up is somewhat edible.”

After a moment of silence, Rebekah said: “Look, I know the circumstances of why you are here aren’t great, and they don’t really speak in our favour either. But we can be nice people too. Maybe you being here, that’s what’s supposed to happen. Maybe you should live with us. There are people who want to do you harm, and from what I gather you’re pretty capable of defending yourself. I am usually too. But you know, it’s still nice sometimes to have someone on your side. Most of the time I could rip my brothers’ heads off, but then I’m still glad I have them. To have someone to talk to, someone who understands. Because there is literally no one else in the world who can. We can’t undo what happened in that village, but we can offer refuge.” She took Briony’s had in her own. “You could be part of our family. We could be friends, like sisters.” 

Rebekah was surprised by her own words, but as she spoke them realized she wanted them to be true. This situation was the harsh reminder of her constant state. As the only sister in the family she occasionally had felt jealous of the brotherly bond between her brothers. Something about her being the sister made it different, which made her feel like an outcast. None of the friends she had had in her life ever could make that up, as they never felt quite equal to her. Briony’s power and her somewhat prolonged life span made her more equal to her than anyone else. 

Briony looked at her intently. It was hard to tell of how much she understood by now, but Rebekah thought that, as Kol would have said, she got the gist of it. She had a weak smile on her face. Then, with a sigh, she slowly put her second hand on Rebekah’s. In that moment, Rebekah decided that she wanted to like her and befriend her, and she would help Kol to convince her to stay with any means possible.

 

 

Elijah looked back and forth between Rebekah and Kol.

“You’re serious about this?”

“Dead serious,” Kol replied.

Elijah rolled his eyes. “I don’t mind her staying here for a while. I guess that’s only fair after what we did to her. But you two already decided that she’s part of the family now? How is that in any way reasonable? She doesn’t even speak our language. Does she even know what you signed her up for?”

“Actually, I do,” Kol said genuinely.

“She wants to stay, Elijah. And we want her to stay, too,” Rebekah said firmly.

“I mean I get that Kol wants her to stay, because he developed a crush on her.” Elijah replied. “But you, Rebekah, don’t even know her. You’re projecting this weird sister fantasy on her, when you know literally nothing about her.”

“It’s not a weird sister fantasy. And don’t pretend that you never wanted more family members. I remember you trying to add new people all the time. Don’t you?” Rebekah crossed her arms.

Elijah looked at her angrily. “Of course. And look how that turned out. How about we learn from our mistakes for once?”

Rebekah was about to retort, when Kol interrupted: “Let’s take a vote. Seems fair, doesn’t it? Who is in favour of Briony staying, and us treating her as family?”

Immediately Rebekah and he raised hands.

Elijah rolled his eyes again. “I’m not going to vote against her. All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t rush into anything.”

“Good, then that’s settled.” Kol decided, ignoring Elijah.

Elijah sighed. “Maybe let’s ask her again when she has learnt our language. If nobody has driven her off by then.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Weird Sister Fantasy II

****

_**Present Day** _

 

Rebekah slowly neared the down-washed building in which Freya was supposed to live. By now they had somewhat accepted that Freya must have told the truth, but they still wanted to know the whole story before they could fully believe her. She had arduously convinced Elijah and Nik that she should go and talk to Freya alone. Rebekah figured she had the best chance at getting her to talk by being nice to her and she thought about what she could say to her. Before she reached the building, the door opened and a woman came outside. She looked scrawny but physically fit, and she had a mean look on her face. Rebekah could tell that she was expecting her.

“I don’t think so,” said the scrawny woman.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow and looked at her tauntingly. “If I go inside is not up to you, love.”

“I won’t let you through,” the woman said firmly.

“Again, you won’t be able to stop me. But, please, amuse me.” Rebekah said with a snort.

The witch growled at her and raised her right hand. Out of curiosity, Rebekah didn’t counteract. Suddenly she felt a burning sensation on her chest, but it was not enough to put her on fire.

“Prickling,” Rebekah said unimpressed. Was that the best she could do? The people in this town really must have forgotten who she and her brothers were.

After several more weak curses against her, Rebekah eventually said: “Okay, this has gone on long enough.”

But before she could strike out, she heard a voice from the house.

“Stop.” Freya marched out the front door. She turned to the witch: “It’s alright.” The witch nodded, and with a menacing side-eye she moved out of Rebekah’s way.

With crossed arms Freya turned back to Rebekah. “What do you want?” she asked briskly.

“Talk,” Rebekah replied, somewhat flustered. It was hard to sound softly right after her interaction with the other witch.

Freya studied her face, and then answered shortly: “Then talk.”

“Maybe inside?” replied Rebekah. “And without that one around?” She nodded towards the witch, who still hovered behind Freya’s shoulder.

Freya hesitated. “Fine,” she eventually said, “follow me.”

She led her inside the house. They walked up an old, creaky staircase that needed reparation, but besides that, the building looked very clean. Someone must have looked after it rather properly. On the second flight of stairs they walked across two other doors, until they stopped at the last one of the corridor. Freya unlocked it and stepped inside. Then she turned around.

“Good, we’re inside,” she said.

Rebekah was startled. Freya must have read expression and added with a sneer: “If you thought I invite you in my apartment, then you’re terribly mistaken.”

Rebekah would have preferred a more private space, but then she didn’t feel in the place to argue. What was it that made her want Freya to like her so much?

“Alright,” she said, slightly tip-toeing. “So, after some research we came to the conclusion that you might have said the truth after all.”

“You mean after you broke into my apartment and murdered my landlord?” Freya replied scornfully.

Rebekah ignored her. “Is it really true?” she asked again.

“Did you forget the second part where I said I didn’t want to see any of you?” Freya asked her.

“No,” Rebekah replied. “But if it is true we have the right to know.”

“The right?” Freya spat. “Why should you have the right to know?”

Although Rebekah strongly wanted Freya to like her, she began to lose her patience. “Look, either we figure this out right now and we’ll get out of your hair, or you don’t cooperate and we’ll figure it out ourselves which means we’ll pester you for a much longer time, because as you should know we got lots of time, and more people will die that want to stop us from doing so.” She didn’t plan on sounding so threatening, but she saw that Freya understood it as such.

Freya gritted her teeth. “Fine,” she said shortly. After a short pause she added, slightly less agitated: “Yes, it’s true. It’s really true.”

“Can you prove it?” Rebekah asked.

“Your parents’ names are Esther and Mikael. All in all, you were six children when you were still humans. Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Rebekah, Kol and Henrik. Well, seven if you count me. You also have an aunt named Dahlia.”

Rebekah took a step back. There were only few people in the world who knew her parents’ names, but besides her brothers, Marcel and herself there was nobody who knew about Henrik. They never talked about him. Why would they? It was such a long time ago. She didn’t know what to reply.

“From your reaction I say that’s correct?” Freya said.

Rebekah nodded. “I don’t know about the aunt you mentioned, but the rest, yes. Correct.”

“Ah,” Freya nodded, “that explains why you don’t know about me. She had a lot to do with my… outsider state.”

“How?” Rebekah asked.

“She took me when I was little. Being a witch, a greedy witch that is, she was interested in my magical powers and saw my potential. I guess the rest of you would have been the same if you weren’t turned into vampires.” She sighed and gave Rebekah a ‘so much lost potential’-look. Rebekah was offended, but at the same time, that was something she had often been wondering about herself.

“Anyway,” Freya said after she shook off some far away thoughts, “I’ll prove once and for all that I’m… related to you.”

“Yes?” Rebekah asked eagerly.

“Do you know about the enclosed hands spell?”

Rebekah nodded. She had never been involved in the spell herself, but she had seen others perform it. Basically, one had to join and cross hands, the witch did some chanting jig and if one was from the same family the hands would recognize each other. It was impossible to fake it. Davina had already suggested it the first time they had talked about Freya, but the difficulty of it was that both participants had to be willing to cross hands. Until now Rebekah didn’t believe Freya would agree to it.

They joined and crossed hands. It didn’t take long and Rebekah felt a cool and soft flowing sensation in her lower arms. She couldn’t tell which part of it told her, but suddenly she knew. Yes, they were definitely related.

 

Rebekah smiled. “It is really true.”

“Yes,” Freya said.

Rebekah wanted to take a step closer, but realized she already stood at the threshold. “But that’s wonderful!”

“What is wonderful about that?”

“I mean it’s wonderful that you found us, isn’t it? You must have felt like an outsider, all these years. And don’t be mistaken by my brothers’ or my nature, we can be really nice people. Especially with family. Family always comes first. And you’re one of us.”

“You can’t be serious,” Freya crossed her arms.

“Yes, of course,” Rebekah said, “don’t be afraid of what we are. You definitely don’t have to fear us anymore, now that we’re related! I mean you must have felt lonely without knowing you have a family, didn’t you? My brothers can get on my nerves sometimes but it’s great to have them, you know. And the two of us, we could be sisters!”

Freya studied her for a moment. Then she replied drily: “In what world would I want to be part of your family? In what world would I want to be your sister?”

Rebekah cleared her dry throat. “You don’t understan-“

But Freya interrupted her. “What do I not understand? That you and your brothers are selfish bastards? Even if you, for some inexplicable reason, have decided that you want to make me one of you, which again is literally the last thing I want, that doesn’t un-do all the horrible things you have done. You’re delusional if you think I want to be part of this.”

Rebekah was struggling to make full sentences: “The things we’ve done… we did to surv-“

“No,” Freya interrupted her again, “you didn’t do these things to survive. You did them because you enjoyed them. And if you need to murder people to survive, you might not deserve to live at all.”

“You’re putting this in a very unfair context,” Rebekah said defensively.

“That’s what you tell yourself, but it isn’t. You killed people, that’s fact. You killed my landlord, that’s a fact!”

“Who cares about that guy?! He was a creep!” Rebekah replied angrily. She was close to tears.

“And that’s why he had to die?!” Freya shouted back. “And what about my friend Nancy?!”

“Who?” Rebekah asked confused.

“She has disappeared about the same time my landlord died. She was also one of the only people who knew where I lived. Curious, isn’t it?” Freya said derisively.

Elijah and Nik didn’t tell her about a friend that they had interrogated, but the friend would fit into their methods. Rebekah didn’t know what she could say to that.

“That leaves you speechless, you say? And why exactly should I wanna be your sister when not even you can find a good argument for that?” Freya asked.

Rebekah pressed her lips together.

“I think we’re done here. I repeat, I never wanna see any of you again. I mean it.” Freya eventually said. Then she smashed the door in Rebekah’s face.

 

Rebekah stared at the wooden door a few inches before her eyes. She pressed her tears down, but she already knew that it was no use. She still thought about what else she could say or do, but nothing came to mind. After a minute of staring, she eventually moved back and slowly turned to the stairway. Anger rose in her. How could she give up now?

She pushed the front door of the house open and stepped outside into the bright daylight. It felt like the brightness was mocking her.

“Talk went well?” sneered someone behind her. She turned around and saw the witch from before, smugly leaning towards the house wall.

Rebekah rested her eyes on the witch’s mocking face.

Then she said: “You shouldn’t have said that.”

Before the witch could react, Rebekah already grabbed her by the hair and bit into her neck. The woman tried to scream, but Rebekah had already snapped her head. After a few moments she let go of the body and it fell lifeless onto the hard ground. Rebekah observed the picture she just created. A small pool of blood began to fill around the woman’s head. The woman didn’t look smug anymore. It was true, it felt good. She enjoyed this. She wiped off the remaining tears from her cheeks and the blood from her mouth and left.

 

 

_**1705 London, 5 months later** _

 

“A truce spell?” Briony asked, uninterested.

“I don’t mean an actual truce spell,” Kol replied impatiently. “I mean a spell as an offer of truce.”

“For Nik?” she asked.

He knew that she understood exactly what he meant, but pretended not to. It wasn’t hard to guess why. She didn’t want to do help him.

Five months had passed since Briony arrived at their London house, and after some rough days in the beginning, she had recovered pretty quickly. Kol was surprised how smoothly she had returned to the happy Briony he had known from before the fire. Luckily she caught up quickly with their language, which made their communication much easier. By now Kol had learnt that Briony had two adult children that both had lived in a nearby village. However, she hadn’t seen them in the last 10 years. Her children, who didn’t have any magic themselves - a fact she kept pressing - knew about her witchcraft, but nobody else did, so she didn’t want them to be attached to her. She used to have a husband but he had long died. Kol had also learnt that Briony hadn’t been the only witch that got uncovered that day. Two other women had been accused of witchcraft as well and burned at the stake. He had the impression that this was the main reason why Briony had been so upset when she arrived. Not losing her home or being outed, but that other people were killed instead of her. One of the woman had not been a witch at all, but Briony kept saying that didn’t make a difference to her, innocent or not.

Somehow Kol didn’t dare to ask about Nik or if she had seen him in the village. She hadn’t come up with the topic herself. Three months had passed with her slowly adapting to their lifestyle until Nik suddenly had come home. Kol thought he had seemed genuinely surprised to see Briony with them and he could sense some anger, but Nik hadn’t said anything when he arrived. Kol, Elijah and Rebekah weren’t sure what to do with him. He acted very reserved around Briony, but then he hadn’t shown any intention of getting rid of her either. Elijah’s guess was that Nik still was convincing himself that he needed Briony and therefore acted very indifferently around her. Neither of them had asked him about his involvement in the village, and similar to Briony he didn’t bring it up himself.

They had lived somewhat quietly for another two months without any bigger mishaps. However, everyone in the house had felt the increasing level of hostility, Briony becoming cockier, teasing Nik, testing the boundaries on how far she could go to piss him off. Kol couldn’t blame her for that, she was too much like him in that matter, and pissing off Nik had always been a favourite past time of his. But unlike him, she was mortal, and Kol figured it was only a matter of time until Nik would find a way to get rid off her if that was what he wanted. It thus seemed only reasonable to reconcile the two. From the two, Nik was definitely the less placable, therefore Kol tried to convince Briony to do the first step with an offer to help him.

 

“Why should I help him? It’s not like he has done anything nice for me.” Briony said indifferently, as she moved around lazily on the sofa.

“To be fair, the last time he was nice to you, you threw him across a meadow,” Kol replied, standing next to her.

Briony laughed at that prospect. “Yes, what a great start it was for our blossoming hostile kinship.”

Kol only tried weakly to hide his own laugh. He pulled her up from the sofa to bring her up to his level.

“Be that as it may,” he continued, while caressing her neck, “it might be better for the greater good in this house if there was some common trust between the two of you.”

Briony hesitantly tried to move away but then changed her mind. “You’re sugarcoating me.”

“Is it working?” Kol asked with a grin.

She struggled for words and then shook her head. “Even if I saw an advantage in that, why does it have to be me and not him?”

Kol let go of her again. “Trust me, I know him. He’s skeptical by nature. Unless you do the first step he will never trust you.”

Briony hesitated and studied his face.

“Please, Briony,” Kol said and slowly pulled her back close. “If not for him, do it for me or the well-being of everyone else in this house. Trust me, it will be much nicer here for everyone if he’s not moping around all the time.”

“Please, Briony,” he said again. “Please, please, please,” he whispered in her ear. “You really want me to beg, don’t you?” he added with a small laugh.

“You can try,” she replied.

“Please, dearest Briony,” he said again as he kissed her neck. “It will be much nicer in the house when you do it.” He kissed her again. “When you’ve done it we can do more fun things later.”

Briony gave a small laugh: “Okay, fine. I’ll talk to him.”

“Great!” Kol replied.

Before he could say more she cut him off. “I won’t help him with any of his petty murders though. He can do his dirty work himself.”

“Yes, whatever, that’s fine. He’ll probably ask for some protection charm. He’s been so paranoid lately.”

“Alright,” Briony replied, unwillingly but eventually breaking away from his arms.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Kol asked before she could leave.

“I don’t need a chaperone for this,” Briony replied with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll hear it when either of us is getting killed.”

 

Kol saw the door closing and began pacing his room. He had no idea how this was going to turn out. In his mind it seemed like a good plan. Theoretically, he believed, Nik should give in and accept the truce. And Briony seemed genuine when she said she’d offer the help. But now he began to consider all the possibilities how this scenario could go wrong. Only one wrong word from either of them and the situation could escalate. The house was surprisingly quiet, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign.

Half an hour later Briony reappeared in Kol’s room. She looked calm.

“And?” Kol asked, who was unsure if he could rely on the looks here.

“It went allright, I think,” Briony replied, as she closed the door behind her. She looked relieved.

“What happened?” Kol asked.

“I said what you told me, the whole thing about common trust and all, and then said I’d offer to do one spell for him. At first he seemed skeptical of my offer, but when he saw that I meant it, he accepted it. I did a spell for him and he seemed somewhat grateful. At one point he even smiled. Then we stood there awkwardly, and when I figured I did enough to establish this friendship you wanted, I left and now I’m back here.”

Kol was relieved. It seemed to have gone even better than he had hoped.

“What spell did he want?” he asked.

“A location spell.” Briony said as she slowly came closer, “I was surprised, I didn’t expect anything so simple. It was a location spell for a girl. Who would have thought? I didn’t expect him to be the kind of guy to running after a girl like this. But good for him, I guess. That makes him almost endurable. Maybe we can be friends after all.”

“A girl?” Kol asked doubtfully. He was surprised. It seemed unusual for Nik indeed. “What was her name?”

“Katherine.”

“Oh.” Now that made more sense. Kol tried to look as plain as possible.

“What?” Briony raised an eyebrow. He could tell she was already suspicious.

“Nothing,” Kol lied.

“You’re not good at hiding things, Kol,” Briony took a step closer.

“So, Katherine…” Kol stalled, but he realized he couldn’t get around this. “She’s not exactly his girlfriend, or anything in that direction.”

Then he told her the whole story about who Katherine was and what she did in order to save herself from Nik.

Briony wrestled to keep her temper down. “So, when he’s looking for her still… that means he wants to…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

“Yup,” Kol said. “You just helped him with one of his petty murders.”

 

 

 

 


	8. Trust

_ **Present Day** _

 

_Knock. Knock._  

"Go away," Rebekah muffled in her pillow. 

She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Painfully she tried to forget what happened the day before but at the same time it seemed this was the only thing her brain could think of. The fight, the words, the anger, the blood. The scenes kept replaying in her head, and every time they felt crueller. She tried so hard to be welcoming, to show that she had a heart, but what was it all for? Freya would never accept her as a person. Rebekah tried to think of any scenarios how they could turn out to be friends, sisters, but the longer she thought about it the clearer became the reality that it wasn’t going to happen. Was Freya right? 

Rebekah’s body trembled. Being the thing that she is, does she even deserve to have friends? Was she even worth to be alive? But why then was even able to feel those things?

Someone knocked at the door again. Rebekah knew her brothers meant well but nothing they could say could change how she felt. They weren't able to understand her strong desire for a sister bond and what lied beneath that.

"Rebekah?" She heard Nik stepping inside.

"I said go away," she replied meekly without looking up.

"Don't let this woman get so close to you. Who cares what she thinks?"

"I do," she replied, staring angrily at the wall.

The same had already been Nik’s comment after she had told him and Elijah what had happened just after her encounter with Freya. They hadn’t been surprised, but Rebekah thought she had also seen some disappointment in their eyes that it hadn’t ended differently. Then she had mostly been angry and frustrated, but soon she realized that there was more than frustration. Freya had hit her on a deep level.

 

Nik walked around her bed until he was in her view, pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. Rebekah didn't resist her blocked view and simply stared at him. 

He hesitated. Then he simply said: "You wanted her to like you."

"Is that so wrong?"

"No," Nik replied softly. “That’s what you usually do. I just don't see what you see in her. We don't know her at all."

“She’s our sister.”

“So?”

"You're the one always preaching about the importance of family."

“That’s not the same. Just because she shares our blood doesn’t make her our family,” Nik replied. Then he added: “You and Elijah are my family.”

“I hope you do care about Marcel to some extent,” Rebekah added drily.

Nik smiled. “Yeah, of course, I do.”

Rebekah sat straight up and looked at her brother.

“Do you really not care about Freya? At all?”

He shook his shoulders. “I mean, the situation had occupied my thoughts. It is a very odd feeling to know that she exists, but to like her, even to love her, just because - No. I might be different if she weren’t so eager to push us away. But like this, no, I don’t care about her.”

Rebekah studied his face. It was so typical for Nik. Against the benefit of the doubt, he always chose to see the worst in people, never trusting anyone unless they have proven themselves. She couldn’t understand how he ever made friends like this. But then, it was in situations like this one where she envied him for not being so emotional. If only she could wave down her hurt feelings the way he could.

 

“What are we gonna do now?” Rebekah asked with a sigh.

“Not sure,” Nik said, honestly. 

After a pause he said with determination: “But I’ll tell you what we won’t do. We won’t run after her in a feeble attempt to win her over. If she doesn’t want to know us, that’s her loss. Just because she might be related… so what. Good riddance, I say.”

Rebekah turned away and stared at the boxes from the attic that still stood in her room. Only a few days ago she had been so excited of the prospect of having a sister. Was it that easy to let go?

When she didn’t reply, Nik sat down next to her, onto the bed and shook her amicably into a hug.

“Rebekah,” he said. “Why are you even complaining when having the two best brothers in the world?”

She rolled her eyes and gave a small attempt escaping, but Nik held her back with a grin. 

“We can do… more girly things. I don’t know what that entails, because I’m convinced that literally everything that you’re hoping to do with a sister, you can also do with me and Elijah. Brothers are better anyway!”

Against her will, she had to laugh as well. 

“Fine,” she eventually said. “I’ll try to get over it.”

“Then repeat after me: Brothers are better than sisters.”

“No, definitely not!” she said with a laugh, trying to get rid of his grip.

“Say it!”

“This is moronic!” she said, giving up and rolling her eyes. “Brothers are better than sisters.”

After Nik let go of her, she added with a sigh: “I’m already looking forward to when we’re leaving this place again.”

“Well, there’s nothing that’s holding us back anymore, isn’t it? We can go wherever you like! Anywhere. You liked Greece, didn’t you?”

Rebekah laughed. “No, I didn’t. You were the one who liked Greece. But nice try.”

“Fine, wherever you wanna go. I won’t make any suggestions.”

Where did she want to go? Usually she went where the flow took her. Either following one of her brothers, a new friend, a great plan: there had always been a reason to go to a specific place that eased her decision. But right now? There was no reason to stay and nothing else to pull her somewhere else. This state of not knowing felt unusually soothing. It felt like freedom.

 

“Maybe Elijah has an idea!” she said brightly as she saw him coming through the door.

“Yes, Elijah, bright brother, where do you wanna go?” Nik added with a laugh.

“What is happening now?” Elijah said, confused but smiling.

“Since there’s nothing holding us back here in New Orleans, since no one’s left here that we care about-“ he gave Rebekah a nudge.

“Exactly. Nobody except Marcel, you mean,” she interrupted him.

“Nobody except Marcel, I mean, we decided to leave this rotten place of complacent magic and bad memories and go to a new place. So what’s it gonna be, Elijah? It’s either this, or burning the town to the ground.”

Elijah’s smile slowly vanished. 

“I’m sorry to break your good spirits in the prospect of committing arson, but I’m afraid that’s not an option.”

As the others looked at him confused, he walked into the room and sat down next to them.

“I take it you decided that you don’t care about Freya, even though she’s the only blood relative we have ever encountered in our lives.” 

“Not that I have a problem with that part,” he held up his hands, as the others were about to protest. “But there exactly lies the problem.” 

“She’s a blood relative,” he continued, “which means she has our blood in her veins.”

When he saw they still haven’t caught on, he said: “This means she can go do blood spells with her own blood that could affect us. And there’s nothing we can do about it. She has an immense power over us.”

Rebekah and Nik stared at him in disbelief.

Slowly Rebekah realized what this meant. Quietly she said: “But she must have known about the connection for centuries. And she never used it against us. I don’t think she’d use it now.”

Before Elijah could reply, Nik said with a snort: “Yeah, right, Rebekah. As if we’re gonna trust her now.”

Elijah interrupted: “Even if she, for some reason, was trust-worthy doesn’t mean we could let her walk around with that kind of leverage over us. If anyone else figures it out…”

Before he could continue, Rebekah interrupted again: “We’re not gonna kill her!”

“What then?” Nik said, agitated.

“You’re not gonna like it,” Elijah said hesitantly, “but I say we have to convince her that she’s part of our family, that it’s more profitable to be on our side.”

“That’s impossible,” Rebekah said in disbelief.

“I’m with Rebekah there,” Nik said shortly.

Then he added: “And we don’t have the time for you to be all charming around her until she trusts us enough. By then the whole town will know about it.”

“Well, I was thinking more of a short-term solution until we have time for being charming,” Elijah said drily.

“What?”

“Capture her.”

“How is that helping making her trust us?” Nik asked.

“It won’t. But we’ll have the security that she can’t tell anyone else about her connection. After that we can figure out how, or if, we can make her trust-worthy.”

“What if we can’t?”

“We’ll have to kill her.”

* * *

 

 

_ **1706, Leiden, Dutch Republic** _

 

Briony looked over the crowd in the inn. The loud chatter and the music was drumming into her ears and a smell of sweat and mead crept up her nostrils. In one corner sat a couple on slightly elevated chairs. The inn must have been holding a wedding. It was hard to find one single person in this mess, but at least Briony was able to blend in like this.

She had a vague description of the woman she was looking for. Brown hair, dark eyes. Kol had described her to Briony once, when he had told her Katherine's story. He didn't want to admit to it but Briony was sure he thought she was pretty. Besides, Briony had been observing more than once that it was usually the pretty girls that were used for sacrifices.

It didn't take long and Briony spotted her in the crowd. A lean figure with dark wavy hair and a radiant smile. Yes, she definitely fit into the sacrifice category of girls. However, it wasn't just the looks that gave Katherine away. There was something in her aura that smelled like death, like vampire. Briony never was opposed to the smell, but in a room full of living people you could easily tell them apart from the rest. Briony shortly contested if Katherine was the person she would have helped in any other given situation, a situation where she didn’t act out of spite, but there they were and there was no turning back.

Katherine was talking to two men. They were laughing at her story, obviously trying to impress her, one of them leaning very close to her when he spoke. Briony observed them for a while and for a second, she thought Katherine looked directly at her, but then her view got blocked by a group of dancers. Quickly Briony took some steps forward in order to pass them. But it was already too late. A few seconds later Katherine was gone.

Laboriously, Briony made her way through the crowd, to the place where Katherine had been standing. The two men were now talking to each other. It seemed Katherine’s absence had already been forgotten. 

Briony left them and turned around and searched the room again. No vampire in sight. She had a funny feeling in her stomach. It was unlikely that Katherine had just disappeared, by coincidence. She moved further towards the end of the hall, and made her way to the back door. She stepped into the long, dimly lit hall that she presumed led to the kitchen. It was empty.

She hesitated. Behind her she could still hear the loud party. The longer she waited the further Katherine could have gone. Had she already lost her? 

Suddenly she heard the door snapping close behind her. Before she could turn around, she felt herself pushed against the wall and found herself face to face with the brown haired, brown eyed woman she had been looking for.

Katherine's eyes were burning into hers as she felt her elbow was pressed against her own collar bone.

Before Briony managed to open her mouth, Katherine already said: "You're following me." And with more determination she demanded: "Why?"

Briony saw danger flicker in Katherine’s eyes that were only inches in front of her own. It took all of her will power to not push her away with a simple force spell, but then she figured a fight would not be the right approach to the talk she wanted to have. 

Calmly but clearly she replied: "Niklaus is looking for you. He's here. You need to leave. Right now."

 

As she heard that name Katherine let go of Briony and took a step back. There was skepticism in her eyes, but Briony saw the fear that slowly took over. Katherine hesitated. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, to ask her how she knew or who she was, but then, to Briony complete surprise, she disappeared in a blink of an eye. Briony only heard the door slamming, and she was alone again. 

She didn't expect Katherine to come back.

 

With rushed steps, Briony hurried back to the apartment where she and the siblings were staying. Quietly she opened the front door, and tried to step in as soundlessly as possible. She knew that was actually completely useless in case anyone was home and they would hear her with their vampire senses. After she took a few steps, listening to the complete silence, she realized she was alone. With a sigh of relief, she quickly walked upstairs and went into her room.

 

She took off her overcoat and just as she threw it onto the bed, she heard a voice behind her:

“Not tired anymore, I take it?”

With a jump Briony turned around. There sat Kol in one of the sofa chairs that was pushed against the wall besides the door.

“You’re back already,” she said, more to herself than to him.

“Yup,” Kol replied.

“I…” Briony begun hesitantly.

“You’re thinking up a lie why you weren’t here,” Kol interrupted her. “But that’s not necessary. I know where you went. You went to find Katherine and told her to run.”

Briony stared at him, taken aback.

“You’re not angry,” she eventually said, as she studied his face. It was calm and friendly. Almost delighted. She didn’t know where it came from but since she had met him, Kol had nothing but complete trust in her. She could feel it from the beginning. It had been so easy to fall in love with him.

“No,” Kol said with a smile. “I figured you’d pull a stunt like that.”

When Briony didn’t reply, he added: “To be honest, I was surprised how long you waited for it. I already began to think you actually wanted to help him kill Katherine.”

“Well,” Briony said, “I had to wait until I was close enough to meet her, hadn’t I?”

“And were you?”

She nodded and told him of her short encounter with Katherine.

 

When she was finished, Kol stood in front of her and sighed with a smile.

“Oh, Briony, Briony, in what kind of mess are you riding us into?”

Briony observed him for a moment. “Yet it seems that’s where you want to be as well, isn’t it?”

He grinned.

“Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t care less about Katherine’s well-being. I never understood Nik’s or Elijah’s obsession with her. But then, it’s so tiring to watch them run after her. As if they have nothing better to do with their lives. And for what? So that Nik can kill her? Great plan, really. It’s high time he gets over her.”

“The thing is though,” he continued while caressing her face, “just keeping her out of his reach probably won’t do the trick. He’s much more stubborn than you, also immortal in case you forgot, and he won’t stop looking for her just because she keeps getting away.”

“What else can we do then?” Briony asked.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “Maybe keep him busy with other things? Fun things?”

Briony had an idea what he meant with that. Kol had the tendency to drag Nik along whenever he planned on having a fun time, whatever that entailed. And Briony had to admit, Nik could be nice in those situations. Sometimes she had almost felt bad for not telling him the whole truth about Katherine. But after a while she had convinced herself that she was doing it for his own good. Keeping Katherine away meant more fun times, which meant happy Nik. Did that make them friends? Not exactly, but at least she could tell herself she was acting out of selflessness and not pettiness. However, Briony still believed that her efforts to keep Katherine away might not be enough.

She shook her head. “I think he needs a girlfriend.”

Kol laughed. “Yeah, that would be the ideal scenario.”

Briony played with the thought if she should ask him if he ever considered telling Nik about their meddlings, but then decided that she didn’t need to. There was the complete trust again. But at the same time Briony wondered how Kol could work out the same trust with his brother.

 

Kol turned to the door but then changed his mind and said: “You know, I haven’t completely given up hope. Maybe it will take another few centuries or a millennium, but at one point we might be a family at peace. You know without murder fantasies or century-old feuds. A time where all of us will be content. What else is the point of living forever, right?”

“You keep saying that. And I keep telling you nothing in this world is eternal, not even your pretty face or that of your brother.”

“Again these threats from you,” Kol said, as he pulled her close. “It’s almost as if you enjoy reminding everyone of their deaths. Why does that turn me on though?”

“Because you’re a weirdo,” Briony laughed.

 

 


	9. All Of Us

**Present Day**

 

“We can’t let ourselves being pushed around like this by some lousy vampires! When they killed two of our own they have crossed a line!”

The crowd in the bar responded to the witch on the bar top with strong and heated approval. _House Voltaire_ had already closed for business, but it was still packed with witches. Everyone in the coven had come to talk about the situation of the recently arrived vampires in town.

Freya quietly sat in her chair and absent-mindedly rubbed her hands. She was thinking about Nancy and her other witch friend that died in front of her house. Her stomach hurt. Somehow it felt like everything that happened was her fault. Why did she even stay in New Orleans in the first place? Only to make friends that can get murdered because of her? There was no way to get rid of her blood relation to her siblings. She felt tainted. Until now nobody in the coven knew about her connection to them, and she didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if they knew.

“What do they want from us?” another witch asked with watery eyes. Freya knew that she had been very close with Nancy.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Louis replied, who sat next to Freya.

She turned to him in surprise. Until now he hadn’t spoken up in the discussion.

“They know about the magical heap in the forest. They want to use it for themselves!” he added.

“The what?” someone asked.

“The centre of magical energy in the forest just at the town border,” Sara, the witch that stood on the bar top, explained. “It’s a hotspot of magical power created through a big sacrifice that happened a century back. Nobody ever used it. And our coven has taken on the vow to protect it and only use said power for protection.”

“How do the vampires know about it?”

“Who cares?” Louis replied. “We should worry about how we get rid of them.”

“I say let’s just get over it and stake them. Can’t be that hard,” someone suggested.

“It won’t be that easy, unfortunately. We are to believe they are Original vampires,” Sara replied and she looked to Freya.

Everybody looked at her in surprise. Some of them raised an eyebrow.

“How do we know?” the witch with the watery eyes asked.

“Freya has seen them before,” Louis said and turned to look at her. He nodded at her, encouragingly.

Freya hesitantly looked into the crowd.

“It’s true,” she eventually said. When she figured that this wouldn’t suffice as an answer, she added: “I’ve seen them in New Orleans in the 1920s, and no, you can’t just stake them like normal vampires. Our usual craft won’t be enough to kill them.”

“They were here in the 1920s? Then they must know about the hotspot! They have been there when it was created! We have to stop them!” Sara replied and everyone agreed.

Freya didn’t dare to disagree with them. She knew the real reason her siblings were still in town. Her. She had no idea if they knew about any magical hotspots, but she was certain that’s not what they cared about right now. Luckily, the discussion on the Original vampires was no longer about why they were there, but on how to kill them. Freya sighed. That was a question that she often asked herself, but it soon had become clear that she wasn’t powerful enough to do that alone. The rest of the coven soon came to the same conclusion. It was getting late and their meeting was eventually dissolved without any clear plan of action. Freya wasn’t sure if she was happy about that or not. The sooner her siblings were gone the better, but Freya didn’t know how to help without telling the coven the full truth.

Relieved that the discussion was over, Freya immediately turned to the exit. Before she reached it, she heard a voice behind her.

“Freya, wait a second.” It was Sara that caught up with her.

Freya looked at her questioningly.

Sara hesitated. Then she said: “Let me walk you home. We can talk on the way.”

The former sense of relief was gone again. Freya wasn’t in the mood of talking to anyone, especially not Sara who certainly wanted to know more about her knowledge about the Original vampires. But she couldn’t think of anything to say that would change Sara’s mind, so she silently nodded.

Freya walked with fast steps towards her apartment, giving Sara as little time to speak as possible.

“I was thinking,” Sara started, as soon as they were on their way, “that we might take the wrong approach to this Original vampire problem.”

“Yeah?” Freya said, trying to sound as unattached as possible.

“You said our usual way of fighting vampires won’t work. We can’t stake them, they can go out in the sunlight, they are stronger…”

“True,” Freya replied.

“I thought, how about we don’t try to kill them. How about we use our resources, our efforts to find someone who can help us otherwise?”

“Who? How?” Freya asked in surprise.

“Back in the 1950s there was this very powerful witch here in New Orleans. She was able to make protection spells that covered the whole city. They said she was the most powerful witch that had ever lived here.”

“How do you know?”

Sara smiled embarrassed. “She was my grandmother.”

Then she added: “While we’re not powerful enough to do a spell to get rid off the Original vampires ourselves, I think we’re powerful enough to resurrect someone who can, as a coven I mean. At least for protection. From what you know about those vampires, do you think something like this would work?”

Freya thought about it for a moment. Resurrection spells did take some time, but with the amount of capable witches they had it wasn’t unthinkable. And if Sara’s grandmother really was that powerful, she’d be easier to resurrect than a normal person.

“That might work.”

 

Although the conversation hadn’t been as dreadful as Freya expected, she was glad when she finally reached her apartment. At least now she didn’t have to pretend anymore that she was only an outsider in the whole Original situation. She shut her door behind her and rested against it. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander. Maybe, just maybe, Rebekah followed suit and actually left town with her brothers? Maybe they would leave her be? If not, would Sara’s idea actually work?

Suddenly she heard a rumbling noise from the hallway.

“Sara?” Freya said and she turned around and opened her front door again.

Freya gasped and took a step back.

“Not exactly.” In front of her stood Niklaus, casually leaning in the door frame.

“Sara can’t talk right now,” he said with a grin, as he looked to his left on the ground.

Then Freya saw her. Sara’s eyes stood wide open as she lied lifeless in the corner of the hallway. The puddle of blood rinsing out her friend’s body extended slowly. Freya’s stomach felt like it was punching its way upwards.

“What have you done?!” she stammered in panic, her eyes watering.

“I think that’s rather obvious, isn’t it?” Niklaus replied with a snort.

There was a malice grin on his face. Freya felt how her legs were about to give way. What could she do? Before she realized what she had done, she had already slammed the door shut. She started rushing through her apartment. What to do? He couldn’t get inside, but now she was trapped in her own home.

“Freya,” she heard him say through the door, “do you really think that door will keep me out for long?”

Freya didn’t reply. Frantically she looked around her apartment. The window. She rushed over, then very slowly she opened the curtain for a few inches and peeked out. From her window she had a good view of the road. It was dark, but she could make out that it was almost empty. Climbing out would be possible, but she doubted she’d make it to the ground before Niklaus would notice her absence. She already considered jumping when she saw the blonde figure standing across the street. It was Rebekah. When she caught her eye, she waved at Freya. Filled with panic, Freya pulled the curtains close again. She circled her apartment a few more times, her heart beating faster and faster. There was no way out.

With several very deep breaths she neared the door again. With her last bit of courage she ripped open the door.

Niklaus was still standing where he was a few moments ago. He smiled at her.

“What do you want?” she said quickly, forcing herself not to break eye contact.

“I need you to come with us,” he replied.

“No,” she said shortly. Part of her wanted to slam the door again, but she knew that was no use.

“It wasn’t a question, Freya,” Niklaus replied, his smile slowly fading.

“Before you shut the door again,” he quickly said, as he observed her movements, “consider that I won’t go away. I don’t mind waiting, but it won’t make a difference for you. For all it takes, I can stand here for days or weeks with you trapped in here.”

“Someone will look for me!” she said, trying to sound threatening.

“Even better!” he said, smiling again. “Will they come here? They can join Sara on the floor.”

They stared at each other. When she didn’t reply, Niklaus said with an air of finality: “I’ll make it easy for you. You have three choices. One, you come with me right now and no one gets hurt. No one except Sara, I mean. Two, you stay here and I’ll wait, killing anyone else who might show up. Three, you stay here and I get terribly bored and I’ll burn the house to the ground.” After a pause he added with a smile: “I’m really hoping you say three.”

Freya looked at him aghast.

“What’s it gonna be, Freya?”

* * *

 

 

**1750, Northern France**

 

They descended the marble stairs down to the road to the carriage that was supposed to bring them to Chateau Gratot. Elijah was the first to reach the bottom and he turned around. Nik was closely following him, but Kol and Briony were nowhere in sight.

“We should get going,” he said with a sigh.

“We’re not in a hurry,” Nik replied, and handed a huge trunk to the driver. With a grumble he added: “If it was up to me, we wouldn’t need to go at all.”

“You already said that,” Elijah replied with a yawn. Nik’s opinion about the journey was nothing new, but he had already expected that Nik was going to bring it up again.

“Does it not surprise you how quick she does things like that?” he began.

There he goes again. Elijah didn’t bother to reply.

“I mean,” Nik continued, “Rebekah has left for like two seconds and she’s already married to a stranger? Who does that?”

“She has been gone for almost two years, Niklaus.”

Nik ignored him. “And what does she even hope to achieve with a human? He’ll be dead before she knows it. I don’t understand her.”

Personally Elijah wasn’t much bothered by Rebekah’s choices. Each of them had already at one point taken off to start a new life without the others, but in the end they always came back. Elijah was sure Rebekah knew that as well. But if she wanted to spend some time alone for a while he didn’t mind.

“I think you’re jealous that our sister has got so much game in the relationship department, Nik.” Kol swiftly came down the stairs. He carried a small suitcase in his hand, and threw it through the carriage window.

“Yeah, I’m not jealous that she married some old man,” Nik replied.

“He’s not that old. Technically he’s younger than all of us. That one up there included,” Kol nodded to Briony, who appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Yes, good, let the only person here without super strength carry the heavy trunk,” Briony said from the top of the stairs, as she laboriously pulled the trunk to the edge. “It can only take another few hours when I do it, but I’m sure you enjoy standing around and waiting for me. Don’t me mind me doing all the hard work!”

Kol and Nik didn’t pay her any attention.

“Whatever. The marriage won’t hold long in any case. I give it five years tops,” Nik replied.

“Always so negative, Nik,” Kol said. “No wonder she didn’t invite us to the wedding.”

Neither of them made any indications that they were getting into the carriage. Elijah looked up to Briony again, who still struggled with the trunk and slowly pushed it towards the stairs but hadn’t managed much difference since she appeared.

“For God’s sake,” Elijah murmured, and he leapt up the stairs again. He grabbed the trunk, and gave Briony a nod to go downstairs.

“Thank you,” she replied and joined the others.

“I think it’s wonderful she got married,” Briony said as she reached the carriage, “and I agree forty-five is not that old for a human. From how she described him, he must be very handsome.”

“And from what we all know this is the key element to a successful relationship,” Kol said with a wink.

“You especially must be glad that it’s not the brains, Kol,” Nik replied.

“How about we discuss Kol’s brains in the carriage? Yes?” Elijah said, as he tried to hush the other three into the carriage.

 

In the late afternoon they arrived at the cascading hillside that belonged to the Chateau Gratot. Rebekah had told them in a letter that her new husband didn’t have any children, which made her the alone heir in case of his death. Elijah doubted that she actually cared about that. Rebekah wasn’t the type to marry for money. But he still was surprised of the vast amount of land that apparently belonged to the castle. She also told them that right now her husband was away, but would join them in a week. Elijah figured that was probably good, so they had a chance to catch up with Rebekah alone first.

As they drove up the entrance he could already see Rebekah waiting and frantically waving at them. She ran down the stairs of the building and grabbed them into a hug individually.

“You made it!” she added in a high-pitched voice. She looked radiant and was visibly happy to see them.

Apart from the slightly excessive clothing she didn’t look much different from her usual self. After she was done with her greetings, she ushered them inside the house. Elijah looked around. The entrance had a vast amount of space with expensive but tacky furniture.

“Let me introduce you to my new best friend, Flora.”

“Hello,” Flora said quietly.

Only now Elijah noticed the woman that was waiting at the end of the hallway. She gave a shy smile at the mentioning of her name. The attention seemed to make her uncomfortable.

“Briony,” Rebekah said, as she pulled Briony’s arm to her side. Then she placed her next to Flora.“I was just waiting for you two to meet and that the three of us can be friends at last!”

Briony was taken by surprise by this and smiled weakly. Flora eyed her suspiciously.

After Rebekah had placed Briony next to Flora, she said: “Flora has been my constant ally here in the castle. She’s a cousin of my husband Felix. I’m so glad she’s here all the time.”

Elijah sensed some boredom in her voice, but he didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.

After this odd introduction to Flora, Rebekah began showing them around in the house. The rest of the house was like the entrance, absurdly big, but Elijah could see that it was probably very comfortable to live here.

“How good of you to all come for this celebratory occasion of Rebekah’s,” Flora said, who accompanied them on their tour. Until now she hadn’t spoken to them.

“Her what?” Kol asked.

“Her birthday?” Flora said, slightly affronted.

“Right,” Elijah said quickly.

He and Kol exchanged confused looks. Flora studied them both. Elijah could tell she was judging them hard. Before she could say anything else, Rebekah interrupted her.

“Boys, let me show you to your rooms,” she said and quickly pushed them out of the room.

As soon as Flora was out of earshot, she said: “I have to admit there’s something I haven’t written in my letters. I didn’t just invite you, because I wanted to see you.” After a pause she explained: “You see, when I didn’t you invite to the wedding - which by the way, I don’t regret at all, I know what you can be like - Felix got somewhat suspicious. He thought we were on very bad terms and said I should try to reconcile you and invite you to my birthday. Now I just need you to look happy for a few weeks and we’re good.”

The brothers looked at Rebekah in disbelief.

“And here I was thinking you wanted to see us,” Kol said, taken an artificial offense.

Rebekah waved him down. “Of course I wanted to see you guys, but maybe in a less public setting, where you can destroy everything I built up, as you always do.”

Nik wanted to retort, but Elijah was quicker: “And what about that birthday of yours?”

“Right,” Rebekah said, “as a human I needed a date of birth, didn’t I? And apparently that’s something you celebrate. Last year’s was really nice.” She reflected on it with a smile.

After a few seconds her smile hardened and she added: “But I’m serious: Behave. Don’t mess up my new life here. You’ll regret it.”

Elijah wondered if that was a promise.

 

The rest of the day was uneventful. Nobody had made any more unsuitable comments about the birthday that could make Flora suspicious, Rebekah didn’t threaten anyone else and Nik didn’t mention his doubts on the marriage on the whole. In the evening when Elijah was alone with Rebekah and Nik, Rebekah eventually brought up her made-up birthday again.

“I say we see this birthday party not only as a party for me but for all of us. That even after everything that happened we are still a family. Even though I want to murder you sometimes, I still love you guys. Let this day remind us that we are still together!” Rebekah announced.

“Hear, hear!” Nik added with a laugh.

Suddenly Rebekah turned more serious. With some hesitance she turned directly to Nik.

“And with that in mind, I was wondering…” she observed Nik intently as she spoke in a soft voice, trying to see his reaction right away.

Elijah leaned forwards. He knew that expression. Rebekah wanted something. Something that Nik probably didn’t want to give.

“This celebration of us being together is not complete until,” she spoke very slowly, “it was all of us, isn’t it? Until Finn is here too, right?”

Nik’s face hardened, and he slowly moved back in his chair.

Now Rebekah spoke quicker: “We could see it as a new beginning. All of us together. We wouldn’t need to fight about it. I’m sure Finn would forget about it as well if he was unstaked.”

Nik didn’t reply. In desperation, Rebekah turned to Elijah. So far they had always been on the same side when it was on the topic of unstaking siblings, most of the time Finn or Kol. In the recent decades Kol had weaseled his way out of that possible torment by getting a powerful enough girlfriend that made it impossible for Nik to even consider staking Kol, but Finn wasn’t so lucky. By now he must have spent more time being staked than being alive.

Then Nik also turned to him, to see what he thought.

Elijah looked back and forth between the two of them. To his own surprise, he actually wasn’t sure if that was the best time to unstake Finn. The last 50 years had been surprisingly quiet, which was nice for a change. He and Nik, Kol and Rebekah got along fine. Kol had been unusually polite, Nik surprisingly pleasant, but all of that might change if you threw in Finn into the mix. Usually I didn’t take long and Nik pissed off Finn or the other way round, and the others had to choose sides, which eventually led to at least one of them being staked by Nik again.

But then again, like Rebekah, he always thought Nik’s inability to deal with confrontation and simply stake his brothers or sister was his worst quality and he didn’t want to support that quality now. And of course, he would like to see Finn again.

“It has been a long time, Nik,” he slowly said. “Maybe now’s a good time for all of us to start anew?”

Rebekah nodded enthusiastically.

“Why now?” Nik asked skeptically and turned back to Rebekah.

“We’ve all been so happy in the last few decades, haven’t we?” she replied. “Can’t it only get better when it’s all of us?”

Elijah wanted to roll his eyes but didn’t. _Yes, why not improve the happy times by making them more difficult._

Nik didn’t reply, but Elijah could tell that he was restraining himself.

“Doesn’t he have the right to be happy with us?” she pleaded.

“Let’s give it a chance?” Elijah added, against his better judgement.

Nik hesitated, thinking.

“Please,” Rebekah pleaded.

He looked up again, and eventually said: “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Rebekah smiled at Elijah with delight. He smiled back, slightly forced. He really hoped this would turn out well. Before either of them had the chance to say anything, Nik got up and left the room. They stared at the door where he just disappeared.

With a slight confusion, Rebekah asked: “Do you think he’s going to unstake him right now?”

 


	10. Field of Mayhem

 

_ **Present Day** _

 

Rebekah watched Freya’s apartment from across the street. It didn’t take long and the front door opened, and Nik and Freya appeared. Nik walked towards her, while pulling Freya by her arm. Freya reluctantly followed suit and stumbled along behind him. Rebekah was surprised how quick Nik managed to get Freya out of the house. When they had planned the hostage they believed it would take much longer for Freya to give up her apartment, her safe space. As they walked towards her, Elijah appeared from the other side of the house and joined them as well.

 

“Nik, we talked about this!” Elijah said affronted.

“What?” Nik asked.

Elijah nodded towards the house. Nik only raised an eyebrow.

“No unnecessary casualties. It will just make things harder with her later,” Elijah said.

“I’m pretty sure it’s too late for that now,” Rebekah said with a sigh.

Freya kept her eyes on the lantern in front of her, forcefully avoiding eye contact with any of them.

“I don’t know what your problem is,” Nik as he reaffirmed his grip on Freya’s arm, “it took me like five minutes to get her out of the house. Being all nice would only have made the hostage situation unnecessarily longer. I did you a favour if anything.”

Elijah rolled his eyes. “Nevermind, let’s go.” 

 

Marcel and Davina appeared from a side alley. 

"How good of you to join us," Nik said drily.

"I'm sorry that some of us have to walk at normal speed," Davina retorted.

"Common, we’re like five minutes late. You said it was going to take hours at least. Obviously you didn't even need our help. What happened?" Marcel asked.

"Don't ask." Elijah waved him down.

Marcel laughed. 

“Who would have thought she’d give up so easily?” He said light-hearted.

He looked at Freya, but her view was fixed on Davina. There was shock in her eyes. Rebekah still didn't know the full extent of what had happened between Davina and the coven. She knew that the coven must have done something terrible to drive Davina away. But apparently it still didn't sit well with many witches that she changed sides.

"Let's go then?" Rebekah suggested.

Elijah nodded.

  
They walked along the dark alleyway. Nik still holding onto Freya’s arm. Rebekah walked next to them, and Elijah, Marcel and Davina followed. Neither of them spoke.

"Guys," Davina suddenly said after they had turned around a few corners.

Rebekah turned around and saw that she had stopped a few steps back. They others looked back too.

"Someone's following us. Witches." 

They exchanged looks.

“We should stop them,” Elijah said. 

"I said I was coming with you. You said nobody's getting hurt! There's no need for a fight," Freya exclaimed.

Nik and Marcel exchanged a smile.

She turned to Marcel. "Marcel, don't you want to keep ip the truce?"

"I'm afraid that ship has sailed," he replied.

"We can't have them follow us," Elijah said as he looked in the direction that Davina pointed out.

"Rebekah, why don't you go ahead with Freya?" Nik said, as he was holding out Freya to her.

"Why am I always the one excluded from the fun?" Rebekah snapped back.

"I'll do it," Elijah said. "Just make sure they won't follow us."

Nik handed him Freya. 

"Wait!" Freya shouted, trying to restrain from Elijah’s grip.

But Elijah already pulled her along the street. Davina followed them.

  
The other three turned back and looked in the dark alley. They heard someone coming. They walked back around the last corner they had just come from. There stood the six people, four women and two men, who had been following them. The witches stopped dead still as they saw the three vampires.

“One last chance to negotiate?” Nik suggested to the two others.

Rebekah looked at him surprise. “Since when do you want to negotiate?”

“I figured somebody should at least say it when Elijah isn’t here.”

“Let me,” Marcel said, and he stepped forward.

He turned to the six witches in front of them. “There’s no need for violence. If you turn around now, none of you’s going to die.”

“It’s you who’s going to die,” one of the witches spat.

“Oh, okay,” Marcel replied unimpressed. 

He turned back to Nik and Rebekah: “I tried my best, guys.”

“You did great,” Nik replied and gave him a clap on his back. 

As he walked forward he added: “Let’s do it then.”

 

And then many things happened at the same time. The witches were obviously preparing for this. One of the witches threw something on the ground, some kind of cloth filled with something. As it touched the ground it exploded, and a thin mist immediately surrounded them. Another witch went to the back and sat down and immediately started chanting a spell. A sound like high-pitched cry went through the air that crumbled Rebekah’s ears. She realized the mist from before was some kind of vervain mixture. It burned on her whole body. Together with the high-pitched cry that still drummed into her ears she had trouble staying on her legs. She saw that Nik and Marcel were struggling too. One of the witches hurried towards her, holding something like a spear. Rebekah fought with all her might against the pain in her head, to stay focused. Before the witch could reach her, Rebekah broke the spear in two and threw the witch across the street. From the corner of her eye she saw Nik fighting off two of the other witches. Suddenly a man appeared between her and Nik. He was holding a bat. For a second Rebekah wondered who would be so stupid to bring a bat to a fight against vampires. She didn’t have time to contemplate at that thought though when the bat suddenly flew into her face. Just a second before it hit her she realized she had seen that man’s face before. It was Louis. Pain shot into forehead and she stumbled backwards. While she caught hold on her feet, she saw how Louis managed to hit another blow at Nik. The spell really weakened their senses. Rebekah tried to grab him but only managed topush him onto the ground. That’s when she felt a fiery new pain in her face. That wasn’t just a hit with a normal bat. Something was sticking to it and now it was on her head.

“Werewolf venom!” Rebekah shouted.

“Pretty clever, isn’t it?” Louis gasped, when he was getting up from the ground again. 

Nik was about to strike him, when two other witches attacked him. He grabbed one of them and threw onto the balcony of one of the nearby houses. A glass behind the balcony shattered, and the witch didn’t get up anymore. Then he grabbed the other and snapped her neck. Finally Marcel managed to get to the last witch that was chanting. He pulled her out of her protection circle and smashed her head onto asphalt.

 

Suddenly Rebekah heard a growl behind her. Before she had the chance to turn around she already felt the beast ripping through her shoulder. The pain shut through her body. There was no time to let the pain get hold of her. The only thing she could do was pulling it off her and throw it across the street. It took her a moment to realize what was happening. Then she registered the four werewolves that were amongst the witches. 

The next one was already heading towards her. But this time she was ready for it, and before it could reach her she had already ripped out its heart. She turned around and saw that Nik had already taken care of another two. 

Then she heard a scream. She turned around and saw Marcel on the ground in agony. The fourth werewolf had just half of his chest open. Nik was there before her, and pulled away the werewolf. When Rebekah reached them she ripped out the werewolf’s heart.

Behind her she heard footsteps leading away from them. She turned around. The last two witches took flight. 

“Shall we go after them?” Rebekah asked.

Nik hesitated. Rebekah knew that his initial response would have been yes. But then he turned to Marcel: “Let’s look after the more pressing matters first.”

Rebekah felt her shoulder hurting as well. Bloody werewolf venom. 

 

Slowly overcoming her pain, she absorbed the bloody street before them. It was truly a field of mayhem. 

“Let’s get Marcel home then,” Nik said, as he lifted off Marcel by his shoulders.

“Wait,” Rebekah said. 

Something wasn’t right. She looked at the bodies again, searching. 

“Someone’s missing.”

“Who?” Nik asked.

“The one with the bat.”

Nik looked around as well, his face hardening.

“I’ll get him,” Rebekah shortly and went off into the direction where Elijah, Davina and Freya had gone.

  
It didn’t take long and she caught up with them. She saw Elijah and Davina hurrying further down the street. By now Elijah was carrying Freya completely, apparently having decided that it was quicker that way. Then she saw Louis as well. He was lurking along the building walls in the darkness, in safe distance.

Within seconds she stood next to him. She grabbed him by the head and threw across the street.

Through the noise the Elijah and the others turned around. Louis was lying on the ground in a crouching position, grumbling with pain. He tried to get up. Rebekah pulled him on his head again and threw him on his back. Then she grabbed him by his neck.

“Don’t kill him!” she heard Freya shouting from behind.

Rebekah considered her for a moment. She seemed above all terrified.

"Just compel him! He won't remember anything later!" Freya pleaded.

"It won't work," Davina immediately replied. "All the witches in the coven drink vervain tea. They're not idiots."

“We don’t have time for this!” Elijah interrupted. 

"Well, then..." Rebekah began.

"Don't!" Freya shouted.

Rebekah hesitated for a second. 

"Fine," she decided. And she smashed Louis' head over the curb. He didn't get up. Rebekah could still hear his heart beating. He was unconscious but fine.

"But you owe me big time."

 

* * *

 

 

_ **1750, Northern France** _

 

“You’re going to unstake Finn? Can I come with you?” Briony blurted out. They followed Nik down the entrance stairs. Elijah still didn’t fully believe that Nik was actually going to do it. He’d only believe it when he saw Finn in front of him. 

“No.” Nik replied with a matter of fact-ness.

“Don’t you always say you want me to figure out more about vampirism?” Briony pleaded. “This would be a great opportunity, don’t you think?”

_Why on earth is she shouting about vampires,_ Elijah thought to himself. _There are at least five people in possible earshot._

“You unstake them and they come back to life. That’s it. There’s not more to know about it,” Nik replied.

_Don’t endorse this conversation, Nik._ Elijah closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath.

“Except that tidbit that it’s pretty painful for the one being staked,” Kol weighed in and glared at Nik. “But you wouldn’t know about that, would you?”

Elijah couldn’t believe it. Why would Kol want to pick a fight right now? When Nik agreed to unstake Finn?

Nik stopped and glared back at Kol. 

“Let’s get back into the house,” Elijah said quickly, and grabbed Kol’s arm.

Then he turned to Nik: “And you get on your way.”

Kol resisted for a moment, but then gave in with a grumble. Elijah gave Nik a last nod and pulled Kol back into the house. From the corner of his eye he saw Nik hesitate too and watch them go back inside. But then he picked up his walk down the stairs.

When they were back inside, he gave Kol a slap over the head.

“You’re a bloody moron, Kol.”

“I just stated a fact. I didn’t know you are all pro-staking siblings now, Elijah.”

“I’m not. That’s why you might wanna keep your facts to yourself until Finn’s here.”

Kol grumbled but didn’t reply.

“He left,” Briony said. She still stood at the door looking down onto the driveway. “Have none of you ever tried to follow him? To the coffins?”

“Sure,” Kol replied, his face lighting up again. “But that usually had the opposite effect of what we’re hoping. He just got pissed off more.” 

“And you just let him do that?” Briony said skeptically. Then she looked back outside. “This is ridiculous.”

 

“There you are!” Rebekah suddenly appeared in the hallway.

Elijah turned to her. She was rushing towards them. It was clear that she didn’t mean him, but Briony. Rebekah walked over to her and grabbed her by her arm and pulled her to the door that led to the garden terrace. Kol eagerly trailed after them. They disappeared as quickly as Rebekah appeared. Elijah wasn’t in the mood to follow them and slowly made his way to the living room. He didn’t get far before he heard steps behind him. Part of him already feared that it was Nik who changed his mind. When he looked up he saw it was Flora.

“Have you seen Rebekah?” she asked.

Elijah nodded towards the window. Outside Rebekah and Briony stood at the rail of the balcony and laughed. Whatever story Rebekah was telling must have been absolutely hilarious. 

Flora hesitated. She watched them for a moment through the window and then turned away. 

“You don’t want to go outside then?” Elijah asked.

“Nevermind,” Flora replied. “I feel like I’d be interrupting something.”

Elijah couldn’t resent her for not wanting to go outside. He studied her face. She looked back at him with a slight surprise. But she didn’t look like she didn’t enjoy being looked at. So far he hadn’t much chance to talk to her alone. Until now he had the impression Flora was shy, a bit untalkative. But maybe he was wrong about that. Maybe she was just quiet.

“Do you look forward to the party?” he asked.

She smiled. “Of course.”

Flora didn’t elaborate on her answer, which somewhat confirmed Elijah’s theory about her. The following silence didn’t seem to make her in any way uncomfortable. It was a nice change for once, the silence. Being with his siblings all the time reminded him that none of them could ever shut up. Either it was bickering about something or telling the same story for the millionth time. Even Nik had trouble not telling his opinion about every possible thing. And since Briony joined them, there was even a person more who made sure the general sound level stayed up. 

 

The days that led up to the infamous birthday party were uneventful. Elijah was surprised how relaxed Rebekah was about the preparations. After she had told them how important the event was for her, he had expected her to take it much more serious. Although she looked carefree there was something that made her tense. He knew that she was bothered by something that wasn’t the party. Nik still hadn’t returned with Finn. Elijah didn’t know if Nik would keep his word and actually unstake him. And if he did, could he persuade Finn to come with him? It was one thing if Finn could forgive Nik. But could he also forgive the others for not doing more to keep Nik doing it in the first place?

Rebekah and Kol didn’t seem to be worried about that. Their focus of worry was on Nik actually going through with his promise.

It was the evening before the birthday party and they still hadn’t heard from Nik. Rebekah had been grumpy the whole day, snapping at all of them. Kol kept telling her that he “knew all along that they wouldn’t show up in time," which only made her angrier. Elijah resigned from meddling and theorizing with them and decided to just wait it out. There was not much they could do anyway.

It had already become late and everybody except Rebekah, Elijah and Kol had gone to bed. They didn’t speak it out loud, but each of them apparently made the decision to just sit there until they heard from Nik. They had been sitting in one of the living rooms in a half circle. Neither of them spoke. Elijah stared at the door. He had been staring at the door for such a long time that he was sure he could remember all the door’s details for the rest of his life. Nothing happened. He looked over to Kol, who absent-mindedly looked into the fire burning in the fireplace. He turned to Rebekah. She sat half hidden in one of the sofa chairs, her arms crossed.

When she saw him looking at her she said with gritted teeth: “He only had this one thing to do.”

Elijah didn’t know what to reply. It was true. Nik only had one thing to do. But there were so many things that could go wrong with that one thing.

Kol turned to them and opened his mouth. Elijah figured he was going to tell them again that he knew all along, but he didn’t. Instead he readjusted his pose, and resigned back to looking at the fire with a grumble.

 

“This is useless,” Elijah eventually said and got up.

He didn’t want to be the one who gave up first. But he knew if he didn’t leave, the others would sit there as long as it took. Even if it took days or weeks. As he got up, he was expecting protest from his siblings. They didn’t say anything. He turned to Rebekah. She sat up straight and stared at the door.

“Someone’s coming,” she said with suppressed excitement.

The door slowly opened.

Nik came inside. Elijah couldn’t read his face. They all stared at him with anticipation. Then with a swift step to the side he moved away from the door. A second man appeared. It was Finn.


	11. The Birthday Party

_**Present Day** _

 

They had put Freya in one of the bedrooms on the top floor. After Davina had put a confinement spell over the doors and windows, Freya was able to move around the room without leaving it. It seemed to be the most humane way to keep her imprisoned. This didn’t make Freya any more cooperative. After they had arrived in the mansion Freya apparently had taken on a vow of silence. Since they had placed her in her room she hadn’t spoken a word with them. Instead she either looked at them defiantly or turned away when they entered the room.

Every few hours one of the siblings tried to talk to her without any success. In the evening Rebekah again entered Freya’s room with a bottle of water and bag of chips.

“Here, you need to eat,” she said and threw both things onto the bed.

Rebekah didn’t exactly know when it happened, but she had grown tired of being friendly to her sister. It was exhausting to try to impress her when there was nothing in return. And Nik was right, she didn’t need her. Not in a sister function, anyway. 

Freya sat on the chair next to the desk. She shortly inspected the chips that landed on the bed and then turned back to Rebekah. They looked at each other for a few moments. 

Rebekah sighed loudly. “I don’t know what you’re expecting to gain from not speaking. But whatever. Feel free to sit here in silence.” 

She was about turn around and leave when she realized Elijah was standing behind her. 

“Let’s try a bit harder, okay?” he said.

“Fine,” Rebekah replied.

She followed Elijah into the room. As Elijah walked over to the bed, Rebekah sat down on the window seat. Elijah slowly held up the bag of chips.

“Was that the only food we had in the house?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It was this or a can of artichokes.”

“I guess we should get some food tomorrow,” he said quietly and placed it back onto the bed. Then he sat down on the corner of the bed and turned to Freya.

“You’re going to be here if you like it or not. But it’s up to you if it’s going to be pleasant,” Elijah said.

Freya blinked. She didn’t look like she had any intention of replying to this.

 

“She won’t trust us as long as she doesn’t see we’re family,” Rebekah said to him.

“True,” he replied. “I guess we’re all so far away from our common beginning, that it’s hard to see sometimes. That at one point we all lived at the same place and we lived a normal human life. That we all had the same mother.” He fixed his eyes on Freya. She stared back at him.

“This place reminds a lot of her. I don’t like it,” Rebekah said.

Elijah gave weak understanding smile. 

Rebekah had a sudden idea. She inspected Freya, sitting in her chair with crossed arms. There was a lot of defiance in her eyes.

“You look a lot like our mother. Much more than I do, really,” Rebekah said.

She glanced over to Elijah, who seemed to get where she was going. He nodded.

“Aren’t you at all curious about her?” Rebekah continued.

Freya didn’t reply. 

“While we’re still humans I adored her really. She was so warm and all-knowing, so trust-worthy. Then that whole vampire thing happened, which brought out a new side in all of us. I have long forgiven her for that. But all of that changed with her death in 1809.”

“1809?” Freya asked with surprise.

Rebekah smiled. She knew that this would catch Freya’s interest. 

“Yes, that’s when she tried to kill us. Trying to undo the deeds of her family. A bit like you I suppose.” 

It used to be hard for Rebekah to talk about those years. 

“But how was she alive in 1809?” Freya looked at her with bewilderment. She must have had forgotten about her determination to not talk to her.

“Long story. She was never quite dead. Asleep if you will. We woke her up to help us with …something.”

She still had Freya’s attention, so Rebekah continued. “Then she double-crossed us and tried to kill us instead. Fortunately Nik noticed something was up. Else the rest of us would be below the ground and not her.”

“He killed his own mother?” Freya looked at her in disgust.

“It doesn’t matter who killed whom,” Elijah replied. “In the end, we were all guilty. Even her.”

Freya didn’t seem to fully grasp the meaning of these words. But Rebekah didn’t expect her to.

“And what does this have to do with this place here?” Freya asked.

“It happened here. In New Orleans.”

“I see why you’re not fond of it then” Freya leaned back in her chair, trying to make sense of all this information.

“It’s one of the reasons. But the rest doesn’t concern you,” Rebekah replied.

Freya’s kept fixed on Rebekah, then looked at Elijah. He and Rebekah exchanged looks. It was hard to tell what Freya was thinking, but Rebekah didn’t like it.

After a pause Freya said: “I was there, you know. In 1925. I’d say it concerns me to some extent.”

Rebekah gulped. “I don’t remember you.”

“Fair enough. We haven’t exactly talked back then. But I was there. At that little party of yours. I know what you did. I know what your brother did. I know what happened to that poor coven. That none of them committed suicide, as the newspapers claimed later.”

There it was again. The defiance in her eyes. But this time Rebekah wasn’t sure how to stop it.

Freya continued: “But make no mistake. The coven back then might have been too weak, but now there are more witches in the coven, and they are strong.”

“You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elijah replied defiantly.

“Oh really,” she replied in a mocking tone.

 

“It is what it is, Freya,” Elijah said. “Fact is that you’re staying here until you’re cooperative.”

With that he got up, and Rebekah followed suit.

As they reached the door, Rebekah heard Freya behind her: “Why do you even want me here?”

Rebekah turned back to her. She looked angry but also genuinely confused.

Rebekah and Elijah exchanged looks.

“Why would we tell you if you don’t trust us?” Rebekah said. 

And with that she left Freya’s room. 

 

Elijah closed the door behind her and caught up with Rebekah.

With a low voice he asked: “Do you believe her? She doesn’t know why we took her with us?”

“We took her so she can’t hurt us with blood spells. Apparently that idea hasn’t come to her mind yet.”

“I don’t know,” Elijah replied. “It’s hard to tell if she hasn’t tried it yet or if she just doesn’t know about blood spells at all.”

“If she knew she would have tried it. I think she’s really in to hurt us. At least emotionally she’s not holding back,” Rebekah replied. 

Some of the comments Freya said got close to her again. It made her angry. Why was it so hard to not care about what Freya thought?

Together they walked downstairs into the living room where they found Nik sitting on the sofa.

“No luck?” he asked, not that attached.

Rebekah gave a grumble, which sufficed as an answer.

“Marcel’s fine,” he said. “Resting.”

Rebekah placed herself next to him and stretched her legs. Elijah stayed in the entrance door and looked absently into the room.

“I’m not sure if we’re ever going to have progress with her. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to bring her here,” he said.

“It was your idea, Elijah,” Nik replied.

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“It has only been a day. She can still change her mind,” Rebekah said.

She didn’t truly believe in those words. But it would be an even worse idea to let her go again.

 

Nik raised his left hand. “I have an idea that would make everything easier.”

The others turned to him in surprise.

“Let’s turn her into a vampire. She wouldn’t have any witchy powers to hurt us. We could sire her. Done. Problem solved.”

“No!” both Elijah and Rebekah said together.

“Why not?” Nik asked.

“Just no,” Rebekah said. “Ethical reasons.”

Nik rolled his eyes. “Just don’t tell me later I didn’t give you a solution at this point.”

Elijah shook his head.

“If we could turn to the more pressing matters now,” Nik continued. 

Elijah and Rebekah exchanged confused looks.

“Was I the only one surprised that we were attacked by werewolves last night?!” he asked with a raised voice.

“Yes. I didn’t know they were working with the witches,” Rebekah weighed in.

“According to Marcel, until now they weren’t,” Nik replied.

“And us being here changed that?” Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think that’s the whole reason. There’s something else. Us being here obviously poses as a threat. But what is threatened?”

“There is something they think we want,” Rebekah put together. “What?”

Nik smiled. “There is only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

 

* * *

 

_**1750, Northern France** _

 

“And then he took it out! Just like that! And I said what do you think you’re gonna do with that, Monsieur?”

"Please, Briony. There are things about my brother I don't need to know." 

Elijah didn’t bother to look at her. Instead he observed the piece of bread in his plate. They sat on the garden terrace for breakfast. Rebekah and Briony had been telling each other stories from their marital lives, while Flora listened to them. Nik and Kol hadn’t showed up yet. Elijah realized that they were probably late on purpose. He envied them a bit. Next to him sat Finn. He looked at his newly revived brother. In the last night the siblings had caught up about the last century that Finn had missed. It was a heartfelt reunion at first. They had been happy to see him again. The whole night they had stayed up and talked. Only when it began to dawn, Elijah sensed that not everything was fully alright. Finn had been happy at first. But then there was some distance. There had always been a core difference between Finn and his siblings. Finn never quite accepted his state as a vampire. And because of that it never felt completely like he was one of them. Elijah truly wished that Finn was closer to them, and he knew that most of his siblings thought the same. Yet there was always something that put them apart.

”I could have told him exactly what to do with it. Put it back in his trousers, where it belonged,” he heard Flora say.

Rebekah spilled out her tea with laughter.

Finn turned to Elijah and spoke with a low voice to make sure that only he would hear him. “I’m surprised you guys still put up with breakfast routines.”

Elijah gave a little smile: “Some routine isn’t bad, don’t you think?”

“Probably not,” Finn replied absent-mindedly. He looked up the marble house walls and inspected the window frames.

Elijah knew what a shock it was every time when one woke up after a long time of being staked. Everything was always so different. And for Finn who had spent so much time in the coffin it must be especially strange. 

“You know, after this whole birthday thing, Nik and I thought we could all go to the North Sea. That’s something we al-“

Elijah couldn’t finish his sentence, as he heard Nik’s voice interrupt his.

"What is this? Briony is even more inappropriate than usual?" Nik said as he joined them at the table.

Briony squinted her eyes. "Are you getting wrinkles, Nik? You look older."

"If I do, I probably still look younger than you, love."

Briony laughed. "You wish."

Then she looked back to the terrace door again.

“Where is Kol?” she exclaimed.

“If I find him talking to that maid again, I swear to God…” she grumbled, as she walked over to the door and went inside.

“She shouldn’t use the lord’s name in vain,” Flora said quietly.

Nobody replied to her. Instead Rebekah said: “As soon as my husband arrives, I want all of you to show yourself from your best side. Especially you, Nik!”

“What did I do?” Nik replied affronted.

“Just be polite,” Rebekah insisted.

“I’m always polite. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t tell you that a carriage arrived just now.”

“What?!” Rebekah shrieked. A second later she disappeared through the terrace door.

Nik followed her. Flora got up as well.

Elijah too was about to leave when Finn said: “Just to make one thing clear. I’m not planning on staying for long.”

Elijah sat back in his seat again. “What do you mean?”

“I haven’t forgiven him, if that’s what you’re wondering. But I agreed on coming here for this reunion. After that I don’t know yet. We’ll see.”

 

Finn’s words stuck with Elijah as he followed the others inside. It felt like it had already started. The distancing. Elijah felt a heavy rock in his chest. Was there even a way to stop Finn from leaving? If he disappeared now it would almost feel the same as last week when he was still in a coffin.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. With his mind preoccupied Elijah simply walked with the flow and did what he was told. They had all greeted Rebekah’s husband as he arrived. He seemed okay. Elijah only said a few words to him before returning back to his thoughts. Again and again he spied on Finn. Did he seem happy? Not really.

Before Elijah knew it, it was already dark outside and he stood back on the terrace in the middle of the party. He rested on the railing of the terrace. He wasn’t sure where all these people had come from. There was laughter, music and loud chatter around him. He didn’t mind. The constant blur of all kinds of noises somehow made it easy to think. What he thought was tacky was the overflowing decadence of the decoration and the food.

“Are you not enjoying the party?” he suddenly heard someone say next to him.

It was Flora. She held a plate with half eaten piece of cake.

“Yes, of course. It’s a great party,” Elijah said. He didn’t want it to sound as sarcastic as it did.

Flora laughed. “Is that so.”

Then she added: “But something seems to bother you.”

Elijah hesitated for a moment. He couldn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t tell her.

“It’s my brother Finn. I haven’t seen him in a while, and it feels like I don’t really know him anymore.”

Flora nodded. “Rebekah said that he has been absent in your lives. But now he’s back, isn’t he?”

“I’m not sure. I feel like he’s distancing himself. He might be leaving again.”

Flora thought for a second. “If you want him to stay, maybe you should try a bit harder. Convince him that it’s worth staying.”

Elijah smiled weakly. That’s what he should be doing indeed. What worried him is that there might not enough time to do it.

Flora pulled him back from his thoughts. “It looks like Rebekah is already doing the job for you.”

Elijah followed her gaze. On the other side of the terrace stood Rebekah and Finn, deep in an animated conversation. Finn said something and Rebekah laughed loudly. It looked like they were having a good time. Elijah gave Flora a nudge and they walked over to them.

As he reached them, Rebekah grabbed his arm in excitement.

“Elijah, good, you’re here! We wanna stay up and watch the sunrise! I know just the place where to see it. Finn hasn’t seen one in centuries!”

Flora raised an eyebrow.

“Metaphorically speaking,” Finn said.

Rebekah didn’t seem to hear him. “Let’s go and tell the others. All of us have to be there!”

 

A few hours later they were stamping through the uncut meadow that spread across the field behind the castle. It was still dark. Rebekah made them hurry so they’d get to wherever she wanted them to go. Still they were terribly slow. Rebekah was in front of them, occasionally turning back to remind the others to keep up. Next to her was Finn, smiling. Together with Nik and Flora, Elijah made out the middle part of their walking trail. Flora had some trouble keeping up, but insisted on being fine. Elijah heard Kol laughing behind him.

He looked back. Briony had fallen over and sat in the grass, while Kol stood next to her.

“Why are we even walking through this mud?” Briony giggled. “This is the stupidest idea anyone ever had.”

“I’m right there with you, love. I’d rather be inside, too,” Kol laughed.

“Hurry up,” Rebekah shouted from the front.

Elijah walked back to Kol and Briony.

“Let’s get going,” he said.

“Have some patience with the mortals, Elijah! My legs just don’t work as well as yours!” Briony replied while raising her arms.

Elijah lifted her up by the shoulders. “That could be. But if we don’t do what Rebekah tells us she’ll find a way to kill us all.”

 

It took them another few minutes and they reached an opening of the meadow that led to the shore of a wide lake. The water was deep dark, but the sky above already began to brighten up from black to a dark blue.

“And now everyone sit down and enjoy this,” Rebekah said and placed herself on the ground. The others did as they were told. It soon became clear why Rebekah had chosen this particular spot. On the other side of the lake they had a particular wide view into the distance. The oncoming light reflected on the glimmering surface of the lake and spread ever closer to them. They sat in silence as the sky slowly turned into a dark pink.

"Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Rebekah said.

None of them replied. For a while they all looked at the fading pink across the lake.

 

"I think this is a good moment to call it," Briony yawned when the sky almost had reached daylight.

"What?" Rebekah replied surprised. "You can't leave now!"

“I think I have a fly in my mouth,” Kol said.

"Normal people have to sleep sometimes. Sorry,” Briony replied.

Rebekah sighed loudly. Then she turned to Flora: "You're not leaving as well, are you?" 

She grabbed Flora's arms and looked at her intensely.

"No," Flora shook her head. "Definitely not."

 

After Kol and Briony had left they walked along the river bank. It was still unusually dark. The trees along the shore made the day darker than it was supposed to be. 

“That sounds almost peaceful,” Finn said.

Elijah had been telling him what they had been doing in the last one hundred or so years.

“Ups and downs,” Elijah replied. “But the last fifty years had been rather quiet, yes.”

He was almost a bit proud of his siblings for not messing anything up. The last night had been fun. Maybe this and his retellings of the last years would be proof enough that they could be good. Maybe it was enough to persuade Finn to stay a little longer.

“Stop throwing rocks, Rebekah. You’re being childish!” he heard Nik saying with laugh.

Nik, Rebekah and Flora had fallen behind on the way. They had discovered an old pier that spread out onto the lake. Rebekah kept pushing Nik further out on the pier. The structure didn’t seem to hold much anymore. But Elijah wouldn’t care if either Nik or Rebekah fell into the lake. Maybe that would finally convince Rebekah to go back home. Elijah and Finn let their siblings be and walked on. They didn’t talk. Elijah didn’t know what else to say. He wanted to ask Finn if he changed his mind. But somehow he feared that would put him off.

“So,” Elijah asked carefully. “Do you already know where you want to go?”

Finn didn’t reply. Instead he stared into the dark mellow water in front of them. 

“Don’t you smell it?” he said.

“What?” Elijah asked.

“The blood,” he replied.

Elijah looked into the dark water as well. There was nothing he could recognize. With one struck he realized what Finn meant. A smell of blood crept up his nostrils and it definitely came from the water. Confused he looked back at Finn, but he seemed perplexed about it as well.

 

He looked back and saw that Nik and Rebekah were still at the edge of the pier. No one else was there.

It took Elijah a moment to put it together. Then it hit him with a blow. Without losing any time he rushed into the water. Although it had dawned in the meantime the water was dark, too dark to see anything beneath the surface. Elijah felt the seaweed tangling around his legs. This didn’t help much with the visibility of the water either. He moved into the deeper water until it was too deep to stand. He dived into it, not knowing where to look. The blood had dissolved to much to find the source of it. 

Without a destination in mind he searched in every direction. He was lucky. Suddenly his hands touched something that felt like skin. He grabbed it. It was Flora’s arm. He pulled her up to the surface. He wasn’t far from the shore and pulled her back towards it. Before he reached it Rebekah had caught up with him, and pulled Flora out of his arms. Together they swam back to the shore.

Rebekah pulled Flora out of the water and carefully placed her in the grass. Flora was dead pale. She wasn’t breathing. 

“Is she dead?” Nik asked.

Rebekah touched Flora’s face and inspected it.

“Not yet. She must have hit her head. It’s bleeding.”

“She lost a lot of blood. She’s dying,” Finn said.

“She cannot die!” Rebekah screamed while still holding Flora’s head. Her hands trembled. Elijah saw the panic rising in her expression.

“She won’t, Rebekah!” he insisted.

He pushed Rebekah to the side. Then, with a swift but strong hit he pushed into Flora’s chest. She gurgled water out of her mouth but besides that didn’t make any movements. A split second later Elijah had ripped his wrist open and blood dropped into Flora’s mouth. She didn’t wake up, but the bleeding on her head stopped. Elijah figured it would take a few hours until her body would heal completely and she would wake up.

“She’ll be fine,” Rebekah whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Some themes and some of the dialogue of the 1750-chapter I took from the Marie Antoinette (2005) movie.


	12. The Witch Among Vampires

_**Present Day** _

 

“You almost died, Marcel!” Davina repeated.

“Stop saying that,” Marcel replied. “I didn’t almost die. I’m fine.”

They stood in a room on the ground floor of the mansion. From the furniture Davina could tell that somebody had used it as an office at some point. Now it was filled with the boxes of Briony’s notes that somebody had carried down in the mean time.

“You got bitten by a werewolf, which in literally any other given situation means that you would have died. You almost died!”

Davina couldn’t understand how unconcerned Marcel was about the previous events.

“That’s true. But as you said, the situation’s changed. When Nik is around I don’t have to worry about dying from werewolf bites.”

They had this conversation before. Somehow it was hard for Davina to wrap her head around these new circumstances. Was Marcel taking his safety for granted because the Original vampires were here now? In Davina’s eyes, their presence just made them less safe. She didn’t feel threatened by the Originals, but after what she had done she was sure there was more than one person in the coven who wanted her dead.

She hadn’t gone upstairs since she had placed the spell to confine Freya. It was quiet up there. At least this meant that nobody was torturing her. Shame came over Davina. She never regretted turning her back to the coven but the most recent events left a bitter taste in her mouth. Davina thought back on how easy it was to point the finger towards the witches and watch them die. She hadn’t hesitated for a second. No, she hadn’t cared about them at all. Not even Louis, who she had nothing against. She had pretty much given him a death sentence. Luckily Rebekah had changed her mind. Davina was eternally grateful for that. And even Freya had nothing to do with her quarrel with the coven. Before this whole Original deal she had barely known her. Who knew if she actually deserved this.

“Are you still reading the notes?” Marcel asked conversationally.

She could tell he wanted to change the subject.

Since the Originals had arrived, Davina spent a lot of time at the mansion because Marcel was there too. The office was her favourite room. She spent all her time reading the notes and diaries of the witch that knew about blood spells. Davina hadn’t exactly asked if she was allowed to read them. But nobody had stopped her either. Davina figured that this was the best approach in many questions regarding the Originals. If they were against you doing something they’d make sure you knew it. Besides that she didn’t see any reason why she should ask permission for anything.

Briony’s notes were by no means complete. Davina tried to sort them chronologically but whole decades were missing. Maybe somebody had taken away some booklets, but there was no way to tell after all those years. And the notes ended in 1925, but it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

Somehow the notes calmed her. It was soothing to read about someone who was in a somewhat similar position. A witch among vampires. Davina shook at the thought that she might end up the same. She wasn’t worried about death, but being stuck with those vampires for her whole long life was a terrible thought. She liked Marcel, yes, but in him she primarily saw a decent person. And not someone who only used her as a weapon.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Are you looking for something particular?” he asked.

The truth was the notes had also awoken an ambition in her that she didn’t know before. Reading about all those spells and hexes made her want to know more about witchcraft. To be that powerful must feel good. But with her skills alone and without anyone who could teach her that was almost impossible.

"Did you know her well?" Davina asked, her thoughts still stuck with the impossible task of learning these spells.

"You could say that," Marcel said with a smile. "I loved spending time with her and Kol when I was a kid. They always had ideas for new games to play. It never got boring with them."

Marcel's eyes drifted across the pages and got lost somewhere in the distance.

"What I don't understand is," Davina began slowly, "how can you be okay with the fact that Niklaus just killed her like that?"

Marcel looked up again. "It's not that simple. If he didn't kill her, she would have killed him." 

Davina rummaged through the notes in front of them, anything to avoid eye contact. 

"Maybe she had a point, you know," she replied quietly.

Marcel put the notes in his hands down. He struggled to find the words for a reply.

"Davina, if it wasn't for Niklaus I wouldn't have survived my teens. Everything I am and everything I have is because of him. He is the only family I've got."

Davina didn't answer. She saw there was no use in arguing about this with Marcel. A damp feeling in her stomach remained. She turned back to her notes and tried to focus on them. Marcel didn’t seem to be interested in picking up the conversation either. So they sat in awkward silence. She couldn’t explain why Marcel didn’t leave the room. He could go wherever he liked in the house, but something held him back. They didn't speak for the rest of the hour.

 

Eventually the door opened. Niklaus entered the room. He shortly observed the insides of the three boxes that were shattered around the room, but didn’t comment on it. Instead he said:

“I thought you might be interested in the course of action.”

“Did Freya say anything?” Marcel asked.

Nik shook his head. “The course of action regarding the werewolves.”

Then he added: “We want to know what they want.”

“How?” 

“We’re going to the Bayou tomorrow and pay them a visit,” Nik said.

“When are we going?” Marcel asked.

“You can’t go!” Davina interrupted. Being angry at Marcel was one thing. But she certainly didn’t want him to get bitten by a werewolf again. 

She turned to Nik: “Tell him he can’t go!”

“What?” Marcel said, slightly irritated.

“The last time you met the werewolves YOU ALMOST DIED!”

“I didn’t-“ Marcel tried to say, but Nik interrupted him.

“She’s right actually. It wouldn’t be a good idea. You’re not much use when they bite you.”

“Thank you,” Davina exclaimed and gave Marcel a firm look. 

It was an odd feeling to be grateful to someone who she just had wished dead. When talking to Nik in person she didn’t find him much intimidating. It was hard to imagine he was the same person that killed all those people and generally radiated fear. She could see why Marcel liked him. Still, she wasn’t Marcel and she couldn’t have the same trust as he did.

“Fine,” Marcel gave in.

“Someone has to watch Freya anyway when we are gone,” Nik added.

 

As the evening came and Davina finally stepped out of the mansion to head home she sighed with relief. The air between her and Marcel had gotten icy after their conversation and she didn't like it. So far she felt like she could always count on him in every possible matter. But since the Originals had returned it seemed as if she degraded into second place. That fact alone didn't bother her much. The problem was that it felt like she had put much more at stake than they had. She had betrayed her whole kin. And unlike them she could still die. It didn’t seem fair. Davina had never thought about morals before, but now she realized that she had some. Did she want to be friends with someone who just killed anyone, even an ally, who bothered them? Would Marcel be okay with it if Niklaus decided to kill her as well?

 

* * *

 

 

_**1750, Northern France** _

 

The floor boards cracking had awoken Briony. She couldn’t tell if it was still morning or already afternoon. Whatever time it was, it was too early to wake up. Keeping her eyes closed she decided to fall asleep again. The floor board cracked again.

“Kol, don’t do that,” Briony said, her eyes still closed.

“Not exactly Kol,” she heard a female voice saying.

Immediately Briony sprung up and turned around. At the same time, without even fully realizing, she had already raised her right hand. Katherine was thrown across the room and smashed against the wall. After a few seconds Katherine stumbled herself up.

“I see you weren’t kidding about your powers,” she said while reattaining her dress.

“What are you doing here?” Briony asked in shock.

Katherine still looked the same as she had 10 years earlier.

The first time she had met her in Leiden Katherine had disappeared so quickly Briony almost hadn’t enough time to register her looks. Still, the second time Briony had seen her, about five years later, Katherine had immediately recognized her. Briony didn’t have to say anything. All they did was nodding at each other and Katherine had disappeared again. The third time was similar. Briony believed she had even seen a short graceful smile in Katherine’s face.

The fourth time Katherine hadn’t left immediately.

She had waited until Briony was close and asked her: “Why are you helping me?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Briony had said shortly.

After a short hesitation Katherine had left anyway.

It had gotten harder to find excuses to be alone just the moment they were close to Katherine. And Briony didn’t want to spend more time on it as absolutely necessary. She didn’t believe that Nik had ever gotten suspicious, and she wanted to keep it that way.

After their last encounter Briony had already expected that Katherine wouldn’t be satisfied with the answer she had given her. But she had never thought she would be that daring to actually to come to her. Not when she was surrounded by everyone who wanted to kill her.

 

Katherine raised an eyebrow. “Just thought I popped by to say hi.”

Briony didn’t reply but observed her like a hawk. She didn’t know where Kol or the rest of his siblings were. And she hoped that nobody had heard Katherine’s crash against the wall. Quiet but ready she kept sitting in her bed and watched Katherine.

“Alright,” Katherine said after she realized that Briony wouldn’t reply. “Let’s get right to the point. I wanna know why you’re helping me.”

“This is why you’re here?” Briony asked. “Instead of just being thankful, you do the opposite and come here? You have to admit that’s pretty stupid.”

Katherine eyed her for a moment. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to create a bond of friendship. But I need to know why you keep helping me. I’ve watched you. You’ve been with the Mikaelsons for a while now. Sleeping with one of them. Classy. Helping them occasionally. But none of that explains why you’re helping me.”

Briony just wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

“Fine. Short version: Nik tricked me into helping him. I don’t like being tricked. That’s why I’m helping and sabotaging him at the same time.”

Katherine raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

“I’ve already been told I’m being petty,” Briony replied.

“You don’t hate him,” Katherine said.

Briony couldn’t explain how she came to that conclusion. But she knew what Katherine wanted to know.

“It wouldn’t change anything for Nik if he killed you. I’m doing him a favour,” she said.

“I’m sure he appreciates it.”

Briony pulled up her knees to her chest. “This is not the reason you’re here.”

“It isn’t?” Katherine asked, careful to not show any emotions.

“I have no idea why you are prolonging this stay so much. But if that’s all you wanted to know you would have already left. Because both you and I know someone could come in here any second.”

Katherine didn’t reply. For a second she glanced over to the door.

“Well?” Briony asked.

Katherine stood there on the spot, observing her. Her fingers traced the edge of the drawer behind her.

“I want to see Elijah,” she said shortly.

“What?” Briony replied in surprised. “Why?”

“That’s not any of your business,” she replied.

“Oh really. But you want me to help you,” Briony replied mockingly.

Katherine’s eyes narrowed. “I want to talk to him.”

“No,” Briony said shortly.

“You can’t just decide that,” Katherine said, slightly agitated.

“Yes, I can. Trust me, that’s a terrible idea.”

Katherine took a step closer to the bed. “You’re helping me.”

“No!” Briony said again. “If you wanna talk to him, go find him yourself. The last time I saw him he was outside with Nik and Rebekah. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to see you.”

Briony could tell that the comment made Katherine angry, but she tried hard to keep a callous face.

With crossed arms Katherine replied: “What do you think will happen if I told them that you’ve been helping me in the last 50 years?”

Briony bit her lip. “I’m quite positive that I can protect myself. Are you too?”

They stared at each other.

After what felt like an eternity of staring, Katherine said: “Mark my words, this will bite you in the neck one day.”

Briony wasn’t sure if Katherine meant the situation with Nik or the one with Elijah. She didn’t have time to think about it as Katherine walked over to the door and opened it. With a last glare she left the room. Briony leaped out of the bed and rushed after her.

“Wait!” she shouted as she reached the door.

 

The corridor was empty. She rushed into the one direction she thought was more likely and almost crushed into Kol. He grabbed her, preventing her from stumbling.

“Are you looking for me?” he said with a smile.

“Where did you just come from?” Briony asked, trying to figure where Katherine might have gone.

She looked into both directions of the corridor. Both were still empty.

“So you weren’t looking for me while you’re running through the corridor almost naked. I have to admit, that makes me a bit jealous.”

“Are you alone? Where are the others?” Briony asked him.

“They’re outside. Quite preoccupied. Why, what happened?” Kol asked, realizing that she was serious.

“Katherine was here,” she said with a hushed voice.

Kol didn’t have a chance to reply. A high-pitched scream droned through the corridor that came from one of the nearby rooms.

 

Kol grabbed Briony and rushed to the source of the scream. They were too late. One of the maids was spread across the carpet. She was pale and her eyes stood wide open. Two red gashes exposed the insides of her neck. It looked like Katherine had ripped her neck apart. Briony kneeled down next to her. It was no use. She could already tell they couldn’t help her anymore.

She looked up to Kol in fear. They exchanged a perplexed look.

A few seconds later the door smashed open and Nik and Finn entered. They looked down on the body lying on the bloody carpet.

“What happened?!” Nik asked.

Briony didn’t know what to say.

“It was me,” Kol suddenly said.

Briony turned to him in shock. Immediately Kol grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. She knew he wanted to tell her to shut up.

“What?” Nik asked surprised.

“Yup,” he said. “I killed her.”

His brothers looked at him in disbelief. A second later Rebekah and Elijah came inside the room. Rebekah let out a loud gasp as she saw the maid. She already had red swollen eyes, but Briony didn’t know why.

“What on earth is wrong with you guys?!” she shouted.

They all looked at each other with dismay. Soon Rebekah realized who was apparently at fault.

“You…” Rebekah turned to Kol, glaring at him.

She took a step towards him and pushed him.

“Beks, I-“ Kol tried to say. It was no use. She pushed him again, but this time with all her force. He crashed into drawer behind. It splintered into thousands of pieces. A second later she was on him, scratching him, punching him, pulling his hair. Everything happened so fast, Briony couldn’t do anything but watch them in shock.

“Stop it,” Elijah said.

Rebekah didn’t hear him and kept punching Kol with a piece of drawer.

“Rebekah, stop it!” Elijah said again.

She ignored him.

Nik grabbed her and pulled her off their brother. She reacted with kicks and screams.

Elijah lifted up Kol to a standing position.

“Get out, now,” Elijah said and pushed him out of Rebekah’s aim. Briony could tell though that he was angry at Kol too.

“This is what I was talking about,” Briony heard Finn say coldly as Kol pulled her out of the door.

Kol pulled Briony by her arm into the hallway. He rushed to the bedroom. Briony had trouble keeping up, stumbling along the way. She glanced back to the others. They were out of view but she still heard shouting and discussing. She shut the bedroom door behind them. 

Trying hard to keep her voice down she said: "What were you thinking?!” 

Kol didn’t reply. He swept out the blood out of his face. The wounds were already healing.

“Why did you tell them it was you?” she insisted, this time a bit louder.

"What else could we do? Did you want to tell them the truth?" he replied.

Briony didn’t know what to say. Truth was she couldn’t think of any way how this scenario could have turned out well.

"Trust me," he said, "it was the only way."

"Why? How?" Briony asked, still trying to make sense of this.

"Because now they're only angry at me. And they'll forgive me for killing some random maid."

Briony considered it for a moment. She had rarely seen Rebekah so heated, but he was probably right. Eventually she’d forgive him. But then there was the other thing that made Briony much angrier.

"We can't let Katherine get away with this!” she said agitated.

Putting together her plan she added: “We don’t have to tell them why she was here. I can find her within an hour and I'll tell Nik-"

"No." Kol interrupted her, trying to sound calm. "I'm serious. It would raise too many questions. And they don't need another revenge plan. You were right, it won't change anything if Nik kills her. Let's just let it slide." 

She heard his teeth gritting. It was clear it wasn't an easy decision for him either.

"But what about Finn? You guys tried so hard to impress him. Doesn’t you taking the blame make everything more difficult?”

"It was already too late for that anyway," he replied.

He told her what had happened to Flora after they had left the night before. 

When he was done Briony asked: “But she’s fine now?”

“Yeah, she healed completely. Nothing to make a fuss about. But Finn is pretty angry about it.”

“But it was an accident.”

“He said we’re treating human lives too carelessly.” After a pause he added: “I guess the maid was the cherry on top.”

Briony’s stomach ached. Only a short while ago she was still asleep and everything seemed blissful. How could go so much wrong in such a short span of time?

“It’s not your fault,” Kol added, as he studied her struck face.

Briony wasn’t so sure about that.

“Just to make things clear. We’ll let it slide this once. But I’m not gonna protect Katherine any longer. The next time Nik asks me to look for her I’ll find her.”

 


	13. Werewolf Hideout

_**Present Day** _

 

It was the day of their journey to the Bayou. Marcel had told them of the Archards, brother and sister werewolves, who led the pack in the bayou. And if anyone would listen to them it was those two. Elijah, Rebekah and Nik had decided to take the car. That was Marcel’s idea. According to him, the werewolves didn’t like surprises and three vampires just appearing out of nowhere wouldn’t make them very popular. And since the siblings had agreed to only talk to the werewolves this seemed the best plan.

Rebekah looked in the mirror and observed the fading red streaks on her shoulder.

“I’m not looking forward to encountering the werewolves again,” she said.

The pain of the werewolf bite had long gone, but Rebekah hated the itchy rash that stayed behind for the days after. Marcel watched her, leaning against the doorway.She turned around to look at him instead.

“Are you checking me out, Marcel?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he replied with a smirk. “Or maybe I’m just sharing your sorrows about werewolf bites.”

“You should take my approach and instead of attacking them just try not to get bitten,” he added.

“Because it worked so well for you last time?”

“Usually works well for me. Last time I got cocky because of you guys.”

“Don’t blame us for your flawed decisions,” she laughed.

 

It took them a few hours until they reached the spot in the forest where Marcel had suggested they could encounter werewolves. Elijah slowed down the car until it came to a halt. They had stopped in the middle of the deserted road. It looked like few cars ever drove through there. Rebekah wondered how anyone could even live out here, so far off from civilization.

“Remember, we’re trying to have a conversation. Don’t unnecessarily provoke them,” Elijah said while he observed the empty street in front of them.

Then he added: “But you know, stay ready. Just in case.”

They inspected the road and the trees around them. Everything was quiet.

After a while, Nik said: “Let’s get outside.”

He opened the car door and the others followed him. Rebekah walked around the car and looked into all directions. A few moments passed and a man appeared from behind a tree. A second later two others stepped out of the darkness as well.

 

The three werewolves walked towards them. Silently Rebekah and her brothers watched them come closer. They looked like werewolves, Rebekah thought. All three of them looked unshaved, somewhat untidy. Rebekah figured this must be natural for people who spent most of their time in the swamp. A few steps before them the three werewolves stopped.

“What do you want?” one of them asked grimly.

“We wanna talk to the Archards.”

“Talk?” the werewolf asked.

“Yes,” Elijah said.

The werewolves exchanged looks with each other.

“Follow us,” the werewolf replied.

Then he turned around and walked into the forest. The two others followed him without any comment. The siblings picked up their steps and walked behind them into the thickest.

For a while they walked in silence.

“Quite the conversational fellows,” Rebekah said quietly to Nik.

One of the werewolves turned around and glared at her. He had a long scar on his neck.

“Sorry,” she said. “No talking it is then.”

“Hey,” Nik spoke up and looked to the werewolf that turned around. “Have you ever considered becoming a hybrid? It’s like being a werewolf but without all the drawbacks.”

The werewolf didn’t turn around, but his shoulders twitched.

“Can you not?” Elijah said to Nik.

“What do you expect?” Rebekah said. “Nik does have to ask every werewolf he meets. I was surprised he didn’t ask the werewolf bodies on the street after he ripped their hearts out the other day.”

“I don’t ask ‘every werewolf I meet,’” Nik said affronted, imitating Rebekah’s tone.

“Let’s not talk about werewolf bodies either, okay?” Elijah interrupted them.

“If you’re finished chatting,” the werewolf in the front suddenly said, “you can talk to the Archards now. We’re here.”

They looked up to the werewolf. They were standing in front of a tall shrub.

“Do they live in there?” Rebekah asked, slightly confused.

The werewolf shook his head. Then he pointed to the small trail that led around the shrub.

As if struck by their slow reaction, he said impatiently: “They live over there.”

“Follow me,” the werewolf with the scar replied with a sigh.

 

They followed him around the thickest until they reached a glade. A monstrous and tall house appeared in front of them. Its long glass facades went from the ground up to the ceiling and reflected the sunlight that shone through the tree leaves. A paved walk led up to the entrance door along a freshly mowed lawn. In the middle of the lawn stood a small fountain that trickled quietly. Rebekah was baffled. This is not what she thought a werewolf hideout would look like. They walked along the small paved road up to the house.

The werewolf opened the front door and led them into the entry hall. Everything was bright, shiny and clean.

A second later a tall woman appeared through a side door and straightly walked towards them.

“I am Celine Archard,” she said. She stretched out her hand. In her whole appearance it looked like the whole thing was a business meeting to her and she had been expecting them for days.

Elijah took her hand hesitantly, and then introduced himself and his siblings.

Celine eyed them for a second, then said: “I’ve been told you want to talk. If that’s true, good. We can gladly have a civilized conversation like adults. If you think you need to resort to violence I’d suggest you leave right now.”

“We’re not here to start a fight,” Elijah replied.

“Good,” Celine replied and her face lightened up a bit. “Follow me,” she said.

She led them to room adjacent to the entrance.

A man was sitting in one of the sofa chairs. As they entered he stood up.

“This is my brother Bastien Archard.”

Bastien was wearing a suit, just like his sister. Together they looked very professional. Rebekah never expected to feel underdressed in a situation involving werewolves. Bastien too shook their hands and then asked them to sit down.

“Why are you here then?” he asked, in almost conversational tone.

“We want to know why you attacked us,” Nik said shortly.

“I’m not interested in playing games. So I’ll tell you right out why we did what we did and what we want. And I’m really hoping you do the same,” Bastien began. “This deal with the witches — it is new and let’s say also a bit fragile. What convinced us to go through with it was you. You being here has become a threat to both our parties and it only seemed logical to help them to get rid of you.”

“Why are you threatened by us?” Elijah asked.

“The centre of magical energy of course. That’s why you are here, I suppose?”

“The what?” Elijah asked.

Bastien observed the three of them with critical eyes. Then he repeated: “The centre of magical energy in the woods close to the town border. The hotspot of magical power.”

“What is that?” Nik asked again.

“It’s a hotspot for magical power. Power just waiting for someone to use. If used properly it would be enough to even break the werewolf curse. We could turn whenever we like and wouldn’t be ruled by the moon anymore. That’s why we want it. We’ve been fighting over it with the coven for years now. Recently they suggested they’d be willing to share it equally if we helped them to get rid of you first.”

After a pause, Bastien added: “And you’re telling me, you’re not here for this?”

They shook their head.

“Why are you here then?”

“A witch,” Elijah said. “She has nothing to with that hotspot. We just wanted her.”

Bastien and Celine exchanged looks.

“Even if that’s true. Your little mission to retrieve that witch cost many lives,” Celine said. “You’re disturbing the balance in our town.”

“We’re not planning on staying long. We got the witch now and we we’re not interested in staying much longer.”

Again Bastien and Celine looked at each other.

“It would be an advantage if we didn’t have to share the hotspot with the witches…” Celine said to him.

Bastien looked back to the siblings. “And we can’t kill you in any case, which leaves only one sensible option…”

He considered them again.

“Fine,” he suddenly said. “You have convinced me. We’ll let you alone from now on if you agree to leave the hotspot to us and that you leave New Orleans relatively soon?”

“Sounds fair,” Elijah said with a smile.

It had been surprisingly easy. Rebekah wondered why she had even dreaded coming here for so long. If she knew that the werewolves were so agreeable she would have talked to them sooner. After their agreement several other werewolves who were close to the Archards joined them. Some of them seemed genuinely interested in getting to know Rebekah and her brothers.

“I thought they were living in the swamp. I didn’t expect this place to look so posh,” Rebekah whispered to Nik.

“Me neither,” Nik replied.

“And I didn’t expect them to be so…” she continued.

“So much like Elijah?” Nik asked with a grin.

Rebekah then had been talking to a woman for a while who came from a long generation of werewolves. At one point the door opened and Bastien came in. Rebekah hadn’t even noticed that he had left earlier. He walked over to Celine and said something to her. Rebekah just missed what he was saying. A second later Celine slowly walked over to the exit. Just the second she left she glanced over to Rebekah. She smiled. She seemed content. A second later she had left the room. Rebekah didn’t know what it was but her thoughts remained on that last glance. Something was off. Rebekah’s gut feeling told her that behind Celine’s smile there was something else.

Without raising any attention to herself, Rebekah tried to follow Celine’s footsteps in her head. It was loud in the house and she had trouble focusing.

She heard Celine talking to someone. It was an agitated conversation but Rebekah couldn’t make out any words. She concentrated harder. They were talking fast. Then some of Celine’s words sprang into her head. And there was no mistake on what they were.

“We can’t let them leave.”

Rebekah turned to her brothers, they were in a lively conversation with Bastien. She look back to the window front towards the glade. It was dark outside. But suddenly Rebekah saw a pair of eyes appearing between the trees. And another pair, and another one, until she realized that they were watched from all sides.

She rushed over to her brothers. Elijah was still talking to Bastien. Nik had moved on to talk to some of the other werewolves, probably trying to persuade them of his hybrid idea. She grabbed Nik’s arm.

“We have to leave. Right now.”

* * *

 

 

_**1750, Northern France** _

 

“This is what I was talking about,” Finn said.

Elijah rubbed his face. He looked back on the ground where the body of the maid still lay dead. Yup, she was still there. It didn’t make any sense. How could this even happen? He turned back to Finn.

“You can’t just deduce from Kol to the rest of us. He’s a moron. That doesn’t mean we all act irrationally.”

Elijah wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say. A part of him wanted to condemn Kol and another part wanted to defend him. But how could he do that without even understanding what had happened? It seemed such an odd thing for Kol to do. And then there was Finn. This was Elijah’s biggest concern at the moment. The maid seemed to be the last straw for Finn to leave, and he wasn’t sure if he can turn it around and persuade Finn to stay anyway. It was hard to focus with all that noise. Next to them Rebekah and Nik kept shouting at each other. Rebekah was still upset about what had happened and after Kol had left the room she had taken on shouting on Nik instead who had tried to hold her back before. Nik tried to calm her down by shouting back at her, which Elijah thought was a relatively useless. Still, it was better than Rebekah smashing more furniture.

“You didn’t even care about her, Nik!” Rebekah shouted. “Even less than you cared about what happened to Flora last night!”

“Of course I don’t care,” Nik replied agitated. “I barely know either of them!”

Finn turned to them aghast. “And that’s reason enough for them to die?”

He turned back to Elijah. “ _This_ is exactly what I was talking about.”

“Excuse me, but how is it my fault that Rebekah drowns her friend or that Kol decides to feed on the maid?” Nik replied angrily to Finn.

“It was an accident!” Rebekah screamed.

“Was it though?” Finn asked skeptically. “Or were you just careless with your so-called friend’s life? What you did is no different from what Kol has done.”

Rebekah started crying. Nik put a hand on her shoulder and took a step towards Finn.

“You should come down from your high horse. Just because you keep complaining about everything we do, you are not a better person than us.”

“I’m pretty sure I am a better person than you, Niklaus. Starting with the fact that I don’t run away from all my problems and actually face them.”

Elijah already knew that Nik wouldn’t take that well. Before he could reply, Elijah stepped between them.

“Can we get rid of this mess first, please?” Elijah asked.

He didn’t know why he even bothered to try. Any hope that this reunion actually would work had fled. Rebekah, who apparently had calmed down a little after Finn’s aggression towards Nik, nodded weakly.

“Yes, let’s — “ she began. But then she stopped dead still. Her eyes were fixed onto the door. They all turned to see what she looked at.

 

Flora stood in the doorway, her eyes fixed onto the body lying on the ground. When she saw that they were all looking at her, she turned around and ran off. Elijah couldn’t quite explain why they all stood still and just let her go. Maybe because they all knew that now it literally couldn’t get any worse. After a few moments Rebekah regained her thoughts.

“Wait,” she shouted and rushed after her.

Elijah followed her. He caught up with them in the gallery above the entrance. Rebekah stood in some distance to Flora, who slowly backed away from her. Elijah stopped next to Rebekah.

“What are you people? What have you done?!” Flora gasped. Elijah could tell she was close to having a panic attack.

“Calm down, Flora,” Rebekah said, trying to sound as calm as possible herself. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Is it true? Your brother killed the maid?” Flora said with a shaken voice.

“It’s not what it sounds like,” Rebekah replied.

To be fair to Flora, it was exactly what it sounded like, Elijah thought to himself.

“I can’t believe you people did that!” Flora screamed.

“You have to understand - “ Rebekah replied pleadingly.

“What is there to understand?” Flora interrupted her, her feet tumbling. “You are monsters!”

Elijah had never seen Rebekah to move so fast. In a blink of an eye she stood next to Flora and before he realized it she had already grabbed Flora and threw her over the balustrade. The moment Elijah reached Rebekah, Flora had already crashed onto the marble floor beneath them. He looked down on her in terror. She was dead. Or at least dead for now.

He turned to Rebekah. “Why did you do that?!”

Rebekah’s eyes too were fixed on Flora’s body lying in the entrance hall beneath her. Her face was hardened. She seemed unusually calm.

“It was the only way to make her understand.”

 

Late in the afternoon they kept waiting for Flora to wake up. Elijah was dreading it. It would have been enough to convince Flora that she had seen nothing by compelling her, but Rebekah had to throw her over the balustrade. Now they had to deal with a new vampire instead. Elijah wasn’t sure if he was angry at Rebekah, or at himself for not reacting fast enough. Or at Nik or Finn for making the problem about themselves. Or at Kol for just making everything worse. Why would Kol even do that? He had almost forgotten how odd he thought it was at first that Kol had killed that maid. Now it started to bug him again. He hadn’t seen his brother since the events of the morning.

Elijah walked around the house, but instead of Kol he found Briony on the terrace. Somebody had made food for her, but it was clear that she wasn’t interested in eating it. She barely registered him.

“Have you seen Kol?” he asked her.

She looked up weakly. “Inside I guess.”

He hesitated for a moment, then walked closer to her.

“Kol didn’t do it. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Elijah said.

He fixed his look on her. He couldn’t read her expression though.

“Can we talk about this another time? I’m having a headache,” Briony said and buried her head in her hands.

 

A second later Nik came outside the door. Elijah looked at him attentively.

“News?” he asked.

Nik shook his head. “Still dead.”

He sat down at the table next to Briony and inspected her food.

“You are really not affected by this at all, aren’t you?” Elijah asked him unbelievably.

Nik looked up.

“You mean the thing with Flora?” he asked. “Why should I? It looks like everything turned out well for her. She’s a vampire now. I’m kinda impressed too that our sister actually went through with it and killed her.”

Elijah sighed.

“And that Finn is leaving now, you don’t care about that either?”

Nik’s face hardened. “If he doesn’t want to be with us that’s not our problem.”

“We could at least show some effort,” Elijah replied.

“We did. And apparently we weren’t good enough,” Nik said, sarcastically.

Elijah couldn’t let go of it just yet. He began again: “I mean what Rebekah did was stupid-"

He broke off, as he saw Rebekah standing in the door. She looked terribly affronted.

“Any news?” he asked even so.

She shook her head.

Nik turned around to her. “Don’t listen to him. What you did was great.”

She sighed and sat down on the table as well, imitating Briony in her buried face position.

Nik stared into the distance.

“Briony, I was thinking…” Nik said suddenly.

“Yes?” Briony looked up eagerly.

Nik seemed somewhat taken aback by her sudden interest. “Maybe we should look more into vampires, after all.”

“Oh,” Briony replied, her interest fading.

“It won’t make her any more alive, Nik,” Rebekah snapped under her breath.

“That’s not what I meant,” he replied.

“What do you want to know then?” Briony asked.

“You know how the immortality spell worked. Why no one else ever did it. Something like that,” Nik tried to explain.

That idea was nothing new to Elijah. There was this tendency to ask those questions when someone had just turned into a vampire. He wasn’t sure what Nik was hoping to learn from it this time. The answer to why no one else ever tried to do it seemed to be because no one else could. Or because no one else was so stupid to try.

“That’s all? Nothing else?” Briony asked again.

“Yes?” Nik replied, slightly confused.

“Fine,” Briony said, somewhat disappointed. “I guess I can do that.”

Then she got up and left the terrace. Nik looked after her bewildered.

“I mean it didn’t have to be right this second,” he said to himself.

They didn’t have long to think about what she was up to, as they suddenly felt a movement from inside the house. Flora had woken up.


	14. In the Forest

 

**Present Day**

 

“We have to leave. Right now.”

Nik looked at Rebekah in bewilderment. But she knew she could count on him in a moment like this. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room. Not a second later the door opened and Celine and five other werewolves entered the room. At the same time Rebekah heard several car engines nearing outside. They were being surrounded. She and Nik exchanged a look. He registered all this as well. By now the situation also caught Elijah’s attention and he moved to his siblings.

“It has come to our attention that you won’t be able to hold up your end of the bargain,” Celine said, who apparently read their suspicious expressions. “I am sorry it had to come to this.”

Rebekah didn’t understand what she meant. They had been here the whole time. How could anything change in their bargain? What was their end of the bargain?

Without any other warning the whole pack headed towards the three and attacked from all sides. A voice in Rebekah’s head told her not to attack. Instead she jumped high onto a nearby book shelf. A werewolf jumped right after her but she kicked him down before he could get any closer. Several more went after her but she fought them off. At first she thought that her unusual move onto the top of the bookshelf was the reason she kept out of the biggest harm. But then she saw that the werewolves weren’t as interested in her as they were in Nik. There were at least five times the amount of werewolves attacking him. He was the strongest of the three, but even with that in mind they were oddly fixated on him. As she watched him with one eye as she fought her own attackers off, worry began to rise in her. He was not on top of his game. They were way too many.

Rebekah jumped down and tried to get through to him. There were so many people now to fight off and more werewolves kept dropping in, ready to attack them. Again and again she felt the sharp pain of werewolf venom intruding her body. She didn’t know how many she had killed or injured. Her mind was focused on getting to Nik and then getting out. Nik must have had the same idea. Slowly the mass of fighting people moved towards the window front. She couldn’t see him anymore, but she knew that he had to be in between all those werewolves.

Again Rebekah ripped another werewolf out of the way and finally reached Nik at the bottom of the pile. He was bleeding heavily and barely awake. She grabbed him. It took her another few fights and punches until she reached the window front. With one big crash she busted through the glass. Then she ran as fast as she could, still holding on to Nik with one arm. She wasn’t sure if he was even awake, but there was no time to check.

She accelerated her speed until they were alone in the safe darkness of forest. She felt the pain overcoming her again and she fell on her knees. Nik wasn’t moving anymore. From further away she heard shouts and barks . Werewolves with their tracking skills. With her last use of strength she lifted herself up again and pulled up Nik. Again she ran as far as she could, this time much farther. Eventually after what felt like she had run over a whole mountain she stopped, let go of Nik, and then let herself fall down next of him. Face down she tried to hold up her head and watch their surroundings. She breathed heavily. All her limbs hurt terribly. Her head began to spin. _Stay awake,_ she told herself. _Don’t let the hallucination take over you._

In her attempt to not pass out she focused on Nik. He was somewhat awake again, slowly moving. The bleeding was slowing down but his clothes and skin were already drenched in blood. It was his own, Rebekah could smell it. When he came back to his senses and saw that she was looking at him, he said:

“Where are we?”

“Forest. Far away.”

They looked at each other. Rebekah didn’t have the strength to get up again, so she only stared back at him. He didn’t seem to be able to get up either.

Nik nodded slowly. “Where’s Elijah?”

“I don’t know,” Rebekah admitted.

Until now she didn’t have time to worry about her other brother. In the heat of the moment it had seemed that Nik was in more need of help. But now Rebekah began to worry. What if she had left Elijah in much worse situation? To be honest she couldn’t even remember that she saw him after the fight broke out. Unlike Nik he had much less means of defence against the werewolves. She tried to shake off these thoughts. No, she wasn’t allowed to start worrying. These were the kind of fears that could take over into hallucinations. Instead she focused on Nik again.

“Did they bite you in the neck?” she asked him, as she inspected his wounds from afar.

The wounds were very odd.

“Yes,” Nik replied.

“Why would they do that?” she asked in surprise.

“No clue. You have to ask them.”

“Maybe they understood the hybrid process wrong,” she said with a weak smile.

“Funny,” Nik said, as he tried to put weight on his elbows to sit up.

He failed and put his head back on the ground, still breathing heavily. Rebekah could tell he was in pain too, but he was much better at fighting it than her.

Nik said something but she somehow couldn’t tell what it was. It sounded like he was far away.

Rebekah tried to reply to him but she was unable to speak out the words. The words in her head disappeared, the pain took over her body and she lost any sense of presence. Everything turned dark until the pain itself disappeared as well.

She was standing on a dry spot of grass surrounded by nothing but wide horizon. It was cold. A strange ringing drummed through her ears. She turned around on her spot until she saw them. Henrik was standing not far from her looking at her, confused. She tried to reach out to him, but the second she tried he fell over dead. She gasped. Finn appeared next to him. Again she raised her hand to grab him, but it was already too late. He fell dead the second she looked at him. A second later Kol and Elijah stood where her other brothers just were. She tried to scream for them but nothing but a grating noise came from her throat. She tried to get a hold of them, save them but they too crashed and died in front of their eyes. Again she tried to scream but nothing came out of her lungs. Was she dying too?

 

“Rebekah!” she heard.

It was dark. She felt numb.

She heard her name again. With great labour she opened her eyes. Her head was still spinning. Nik’s concerned face appeared above her.

“Rebekah!” he said again.

She slowly came back to her senses. Still terrified of what just happened she tried to make sense of it.

“Are you awake?” she heard Nik’s voice.

She tried to say yes, but what came out of her mouth sounded more like a blubbery grumble.

Nik sat her up, and she let him because she didn’t have the strength to do otherwise. All her limbs felt like led and her head immediately fell onto her brother’s chest to rest. She closed her eyes again. She felt like she was passing out again. A second later she felt his open wrist at her lips. His blood slowly trickled into her mouth and she drank it.

The pain lessened. At least the physical pain. Her mind was still back in the dream, going through all the brothers she couldn’t save. This was enough to break the last bit of emotional strength she still had. A colossal lump built up in her throat and tears came rolling down her cheeks.

“It’s not real, Rebekah,” Nik said. “You’ve been hallucinating.”

She must have been saying or shouting things in her dream state because Nik sounded like he knew too well what she just had experienced. The sad thing was though that these things were real. All of it had happened in some way.

How could it be that once they were six and now they were down to two? They were supposed to be immortal but now they were falling like flies. She felt terribly alone.

She pressed her head against Nik’s chest. He put his arms around her and held her. She gripped tight around the only family she had left. The forest around them started to drizzle. Rebekah couldn’t care less that it was raining. She closed her eyes shut. Maybe just maybe, for a second, she could forget that again their lives felt like they were breaking into shambles. She would have liked to stay like this longer but there were pressing matters that couldn’t wait.

 

“Where are we?” she asked, when she had regained some strength.

“Still in the forest,” Nik replied. “Just about 50 miles east from where we used to be. The werewolves kept following us for a while, but I think they gave up now.”

Only now Rebekah realized that it was already dawning. She must have been out for much longer than she thought. Nik had completely healed in the meantime, but he was still full of his own dried blood.

“What about Elijah?” she asked, scared of to the answer.

Nik shook his head. “Ikeep trying to call him. He doesn’t pick up.” After a pause he said: “It’s not like he hasn’t found us before if needed. Rebekah, I’m pretty sure they got him.”

“I was just waiting for you to wake up. I’ll go back and get him and you go back to the mansion,” he added.

“No!” she protested. “We’re not splitting up.”

“You’re too weak to go back there,” he replied.

“Do you remember what they did to you last night?” she said angrily. “You cannot possibly take them on by yourself!”

“What then?” he asked, slightly put off.

Rebekah thought about other possibilities. “Maybe Elijah couldn’t find us and he went back to the mansion. He must have thought that they got us too. But he wouldn’t just attack them himself. He’d go back and get Marcel first.”

“True,” Nik said slowly.

She knew he didn’t like to postpone his attack any longer, but then hers seemed like a logical possibility. With that Nik took out his phone and called Marcel instead. Rebekah watched him waiting for a reply. After a minute he hung up.

“He’s not picking up either.”

They looked at each other. Now he was worried too. This was bad.

“What if,” Nik formed the scenario in his head, “Elijah went back. But they followed him and he led them right to the mansion. And Marcel was there too.”

Rebekah thought about this possible turn of events. She felt a shudder over her spine. While she didn’t want neither Elijah nor Marcel to get hurt, only one of them would die after an encounter with a werewolf within a pretty short span of time. Nik seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

“We have to go to Marcel first,” Nik said.

“Even if Elijah isn’t there, he’ll be fine,” Rebekah said. “Right?”

“Yeah,” Nik said. He didn’t sound very convincing. “Right.”

* * *

 

 

**1750, Northern France**

 

There were people who got over the fact that they were turned into vampires rather quickly. Flora was not one of them. They had spent the next few days accommodating her, convincing her that she was going to be fine but she didn’t listen. After Rebekah didn’t have any success in calming her down, some of her brothers tried as well. At first Elijah thought it wouldn’t be so hard. He had to admit that he had taken a liking to her when she was still human. But now that she didn’t even want to look at him, it was hard to find any common ground anymore. Nik’s attempt to talk to her had been so disastrous that he gave up after a few minutes. Elijah wasn’t surprised by that one bit. Niklaus would probably be the last person to convince someone like Flora that a vampire is a good thing. And they hadn’t seen Kol much since their fight. Elijah figured he was hiding from Rebekah.

After another failed attempt of talking to Flora Rebekah had joined Elijah and Nik on the terrace. Without a word she sat down and buried her face in her hands once more. Elijah didn’t have to ask how it had gone. Nik had less tact to not ask.

“Enough persuasion for today then?” he asked her.

“Finn is talking to her right now,” Rebekah said.

“Our Finn is trying to convince her how great it is as a vampire?” Nik said with a laugh.

Rebekah glared at him.

“You have to appreciate the irony in this,” he replied.

“What does he want to tell her?” Elijah asked her genuinely.

“I don’t know,” Rebekah said. “But he offered to do it and there was no reason to turn him down.”

 

Another few hours passed and Finn hadn’t returned yet. The three siblings grew restless. Either it went really well or Finn just had become very stubborn and wouldn’t leave Flora alone. After another half an hour Finn finally joined them on the terrace.

“How did it go?” Rebekah asked as she saw him enter.

“Okay, I’d say,” Finn replied as he sat down next to her. He looked rather content.

They all looked at him in anticipation. He took the hint and began to recount what happened.

“She doesn’t want to see any of you anymore I think. She feels like you deceived her the whole time you were here. And of course you were all in some way involved in her becoming a vampire. That doesn’t sit well with her either. And I met her just a few days ago and had not much to do with her accident, I think that helps a bit.”

Elijah could feel some undertones of smugness in Finn’s tale and he felt how anger rose in him. Finn was there too when Flora almost drowned, but just because he decided not to help her makes him a better person now? Finn might have let her drown as a human, but Elijah questioned if Flora really thought that would have been better.

“What else did she say?” Rebekah asked.

“We talked about her fears and worries considering the whole situation. I said that even though she doesn’t age anymore there are still means to die if that’s what she wants, but she was strongly against it. I don’t know if you know that about her but she’s a very devout person and sees suicide as a big sin. I told her that even as a vampire she doesn’t have to live a sinful life like you.”

Elijah kept himself from gritting his teeth. Parts of him wanted to slap Finn really hard. Rebekah however seemed relieved that someone got through to Flora and didn’t care about the insults. She asked more questions about Flora but Elijah stopped listening. He knew there would be more ways Finn could insult them and he didn’t want to hear them. After a while Rebekah and Finn went inside. He looked after them, still angry. Only after a few seconds he realized that Nik was staring at him with a smirk.

“What?” Elijah asked. He didn’t want to sound so gruff, but the conversation from before still had him on edge.

Nik observed him first, then said: “You’re jealous.”

For a second Elijah was caught off-guard and he didn’t know what to say. Nik used the moment to reply to himself.

“This is an odd moment to evolve a crush in a girl I’d think. But you know, you have done stupider,” Nik said with a laugh and got up.

He too went inside. Elijah considered stopping him and replying but before he had any smart remarks as a reply his brother had already left.

 

In the days following Finn talked more often to Flora. Elijah already had a dreaded idea where this was going. A few days later his theory was confirmed.

“I’m taking Flora with me,” Finn announced to Rebekah, Elijah and Nik one morning.

“But where are you going?” Rebekah asked.

Elijah knew that she too wasn’t fond of the idea of either Finn or Flora leaving.

Finn hesitated. “I personally think it’s better if we don’t get into details.”

“You’re not even telling us where you are going?” Elijah asked, now only barely hiding his anger.

“It’s just unnecessary. The idea behind it is that we all have some time apart from each other. And that doesn’t work when you come back looking for me in a year or so. Besides, if you really need to look for me, I’m sure your witch friend can find me.”

Finn never made a secret out of his dislike for Briony, but this time Elijah couldn’t but take this very personal. He gritted his teeth. This was humiliating. He began to regret that they even had unstaked Finn. Before that Elijah at least had a somewhat endearing picture of his brother. All this was gone now. Without any other word he turned around and left the room. Without a clear aim in mind he walked around the house until he eventually ended up on the terrace again. He walked to the balustrade and looked across the garden in front of him.

Kol trotted up the stairs to the terrace. When he saw Elijah he immediately stopped. His eyes were a bit puffy and he seemed to be surprised to meet Elijah there. Elijah knew he should say something but he wasn’t in the mood for it. With a lowered head Kol passed by him, avoiding any eye contact. A second later he disappeared inside the house. Elijah looked after him but then turned back to the garden.

“What’s going on with Kol?” Nik asked, who seemed to have followed Elijah.

Elijah didn’t really care. Why did all his siblings have to make everything only about themselves?

“He seems upset,” Nik added.

“Maybe feeling guilty about what happened after all?” Elijah replied cynically, while he kept his own on the garden.

He doubted that Kol was even capable of feeling guilty about something like that, but right now he couldn’t be bothered about any of them.

“So,” Nik stalled. “We’re back to four?”

“Seriously, Nik. I’m not in the mood right now,” Elijah snapped back.

“Okay,” he replied, while walking up to him. Nik leaned on the balustrade next to him, so that he saw Elijah’s face. “You rather wanna lament this sad situation by yourself then?”

“Just leave me alone,” Elijah tried to ignore him.

“You’re not in love with her, Elijah, if that’s what’s bothering you,” Nik said, in a much sterner tone. “This has nothing to with Flora.”

“What are you even talking about?” Elijah asked affronted. “Why should you know this better than I do?”

“You’re angry that Finn was better at convincing her than you. That he, this pessimistic, uncharismatic, miserable human alike that we call brother, has more success in sweet talking, something that you think you’re good at. You’re angry that she chose him over you.”

Elijah had a hard time to admit it but Nik hit a nerve.

“I -“ Elijah began, but Nik interrupted him.

“And after all this time when we try to persuade him to stay with us, he even takes something that belongs to us with him.”

“She’s not a thing, Niklaus. And she doesn’t belong to us.”

“She was turned with your blood. Makes her more affiliated to you than to him, I’d say. Anyway, as I said, it’s not about her. It’s about the fact that he leaves us again although we all tried to keep him from leaving. And above that he chooses someone else, someone he just met a few days ago, to leave with him.”

Elijah paused for a second. “I thought you said you didn’t care if he leaves.”

“Of course I care,” Nik exclaimed. “Unlike you I have long given up hope that we can work it out with him. But of course I care.”

Elijah considered his brother for a second. He still didn’t agree on Nik’s behaviour towards Finn in general, but maybe his approach wasn’t so wrong after all. He wasn’t ready to let go of Finn as a brother, but maybe he too had to accept that there was no way around it.


	15. 1002 Years

 

_**Present Day** _

 

Davina was sure, this was going to be the worst thing she would ever do.

Frantically she skimmed through the notebooks and sheets in the office. Those that seemed interesting and useful she put into her large bag that she had brought this evening. It had already gotten very heavy. But Davina was determined to leave nothing behind that might be useful later. On top of the pile on the table still lay a booklet that she kept ready for later. It was opened on a particular page with a spell that she was about to use. She dreaded it. She had never used a spell against Marcel before. Although it was a harmless one that wouldn’t hurt him in the long term, she knew it would mean the end of their friendship. A part of her already regretted the decision she had made. But another part of her knew that their friendship had already been damaged when the Originals had walked through that door. The bag had reached its fullest extent. There was nothing more she could put in. Besides it was already so heavy that she could barely lift it. That was already bad enough to slow her down.

It was time to go through with her plan. She took a deep breath. She walked over to the booklet on the table. It was simple enough. There were some crystals involved. She got those during the day before she got here just after the Originals had left for the Bayou. All she had to do in order for the spell to complete was arrange the crystals in a circle big enough for Marcel walk through. As soon as he did he would fall into a deep sleep until the circle was broken. Davina figured that would be when the Originals came home the next day. That should be long enough for her to be gone, and short enough for Marcel to be fine. She really hoped that they wouldn’t stall their return and let him lie here for much longer. A bad feeling came over her. She shook all those thoughts off - no time to think anymore, it was time to act.

The first part of her plan worked even smoother than expected. As quietly as possible she walked to the end of the hallway that led around the corner to the kitchen. There she set up the enchanted crystals around the corners of the space. She walked to the doorway of the kitchen and turned around. The crystals were barely visible. That was good enough.

“Marcel?” she said, knowing he would hear her wherever in the house he just was.

A second later he appeared in the hallway. He looked a bit distant, but they had been like this in the last few days.

“What is it?” he said, as he slowly walked towards her.

The second he passed the threshold of the crystals he fell. Davina doubted that he had even time to realize what just happened. She observed him for a moment. He just lay there, but he seemed fine. Then with swift steps she passed by him to the stairs.

Without turning back she marched straight up the stairs to the last room on the right where they kept Freya. She opened the door. Freya sat on the edge of the bed. Her face was a bit pale, but besides that she looked fine. When she saw that it was Davina she looked perplexed.

“The spell on this room has been lifted. Let’s go,” Davina said, while holding the door open for her.

Freya looked at her in bewilderment.

“Common, let’s go!” Davina repeated.

“What is this?” Freya asked suspiciously.

“I’m helping you to get out. No time to ask questions. Get up!” she replied.

Freya got up and followed her to the door. Not quite believing it until she passed the threshold. Her eyes widened.

“Where are they?” she spoke in a low tone.

“The Bayou. None of them are here. We can just walk out. But quick!” Davina said, and ushered Freya down the stairs.

They hurried down the stairs, through the hallway and outside the door. Davina didn’t dare to look back.

“What’s in the bag?” Freya asked.

“Nothing,” Davina replied quickly. “Just my stuff.”

Without running but with fast steps they marched down the road until they reached the edge of the old town. Davina stopped.

“Now go off to wherever you wanna go. You’re welcome,” she said. She was about to go towards her own home, but Freya held her back.

“What? Why are you not coming with me?” Freya asked.

“Are you serious? Do you really think the coven wants to see me after everything that happened?” Davina said with a raised eyebrow.

“But that has changed now, hasn’t it? You helped me. And I don’t think you know how useful that just was for everyone,” Freya replied.

She smiled a little. When Davina didn’t reply, she added: “The enemies you made with this might be bigger than you imagine right now. I have a plan how we can stop them and if it works we need your help as well.”

Davina had a pretty good idea of the enemies she just made, but she was intrigued by Freya’s plan. Also she was surprised how Freya could have a plan only shortly after she had escaped from the mansion. She considered it for a moment. Even if she agreed to go, she would never go back to the coven for good. That was completely out of the question.

“For this plan to work we have to act fast,” Freya added. “Just come with me to the coven and hear me out.”

Reluctantly Davina agreed. Her own plan was to go home, grab the things she had already packed and take the next bus to Miami. She doubted that Freya’s plan also included running away to a tropical climate.

 

As they reached House Voltaire the bar was still crowded. Davina was glad about that. They would barely kill her in front of all those costumers. With a tepid stomach she followed Freya into the bar. They walked up to the corner of the bar that led to the back office. Louis was standing there. As he looked up and saw Freya his face lightened up. The happy face disappeared a second later when he saw Davina.

“Freya!” he said, with a half-smiling face drawn between the two emotions, looking back and forth between the two. “You’re back! How?”

“Escaped,” she said.

He nodded, trying to make sense of it. Eventually his anger came through.

“I mean I’m happy to see you, but why is she here?” he nodded to Davina, yet ignoring her enough to look at her.

“It’s not like that, Louis. She helped me escape! She’s on our side now!”

“Oh, is she now? Did that happen after she basically told them to kill me?!”

Davina wanted to sink into a hole. It had been a terrible idea to come here. She stared at her feet, hoping that not more witches showed up whose deaths she had agreed to during that fight on the streets a few days earlier.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Freya sounded surprisingly pragmatic. “There are things we have to talk about right now. I have a plan. It can’t wait. Get the others to the back office.”

Louis considered her for a second, then agreed with a grumble. He gave a nasty glare to Davina, then walked off.

“Common,” Freya said to Davina.

She followed her around the bar into the back office. A second later an older witch appeared to a different door. Davina recognized her immediately. It was Jean, one of the leading witches. She was also one of the witches that initiated the harvest sacrifice that would have killed Davina in the course of action. Davina had a particular dislike for her, because she still was convinced that the failure of that sacrifice was somehow all Davina’s fault. As their eyes crossed, Davina could feel the atmosphere in the room turn into ice. She was determined not to speak to her unless she had to.

Freya must have felt the intensity as well, and quickly began: “Jean, we don’t have much time. We have a small window frame where we can actually do something against the Original vampires.”

Jean’s eyes were still fixed on Davina, but then she turned to Freya: “What is it?”

“I have a plan that can kill them. Truly kill them. But we need their blood.”

“Why? What do you want to do with it?” Jean asked.

“First we get it. I’ll explain as soon as everything is arranged.”

“How are you planning to get it?” Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Right at this moment, they are in the bayou with the werewolves. Isn’t that right, Davina?”

“Yes,” Davina said hesitantly. “They went to talk to the Archards.”

Jean’s eyes lightened up. “You want the werewolves to get it.”

Freya nodded.

Then she added: “But we have to contact them right now. Who knows how long they still got the chance to do it.”

Jean who came around to the idea nodded too. “I can call them.” And then she asked: “And all they need to get us is some blood from one of them?”

“Not just one of them,” Freya replied. “We need Niklaus’ blood.”

 

* * *

 

_**1750, Northern France** _

 

Nik watched Finn and Flora from the window, as they walked off on the road that led away from the castle. Nobody had gone downstairs to send them off. Nik wasn’t surprised by that. Both Elijah and Rebekah had gotten gloomy after the departure was announced and had ignored Finn and Flora altogether. He couldn’t blame them. Nik had never expected Finn to reintegrate in the family, but Rebekah and Elijah still had had their naive hopes. And after what had happened, Nik knew that Finn had hurt them on a deeper level. Why Finn had even agreed to come here was a mystery to him, but Nik figured it could have only ended in a fight.

Kol on the other hand was a different story. Nik couldn’t explain it. Kol, like the others, had been getting out of their way, avoiding any conversation with all his siblings for days. Elijah had suggested that he was conflicted about Finn leaving, or that he felt bad for being the catalyst for the whole thing in the first place. But Nik didn’t think so. Right after Flora had been turned Kol had seemed fine. He hadn’t been bothered by the whole deal. And he had never been as close to Finn as Elijah or Rebekah. But a few days later when Nik saw him again Kol looked visibly upset. Something was up. Nik had tried a few times to confront him, but Kol kept disappearing before he could even be in the same room as him. Neither Rebekah nor Elijah seemed to have noticed, so Niklaus felt like it was on him to find out.

After Finn had left, Nik again tried to find Kol. Nik soon realized that he was nowhere in the house. Instead he found Briony in the living room. When she saw him walking into the room, she winced. She, like Kol, looked somewhat upset. She gave a weak attempt to smile at him and tried to pass by him through the door. Nik held her back.

“Have you seen Kol?” he asked her.

“You just missed him. He went outside,” she replied, avoiding his eyes.

He didn’t let go of her arm. She tried to pull free for a second, but didn’t put a lot of effort into it.

“Something’s up,” he shortly said. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Briony said briskly, and tried again to get past him.

“You have done something to Kol. He’s different,” Nik replied.

Briony took offence from that accusation. “No, I haven’t!”

“What have you done to Kol?” Nik asked again.

“Nothing,” Briony replied determined.

After a pause she added, turning angry: “Everyone has a bad day once in a while.”

She tried to leave again but Nik held her back.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not it.”

“What do you want, Nik?” she asked.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“There’s nothing to tell you,” Briony replied, slightly put off.

“Just tell me what you know,” he insisted.

Briony hesitated. She struggled for words and looked back in his eyes. The anger in her eyes had faded. It was an odd change. She looked afraid.

“It’s…” she began, but broke off again.

“Yes?” Nik asked.

Something in her face worried him. He saw that she didn’t want to tell him out of spite, or to tease him. She was concerned about him.

Her voice sounded much thinner than before. “I did what you asked me to do. I looked into the whole vampire deal. I tried out some things with Kol’s blood to find out more about that original spell.”

“And?”

“What I found out was…” she paused. She scanned the room, as if that could give her a way out to not answer the question. Her eyes grew wider.

“Nik, the spell that your mother did - it wasn’t an immortality spell.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

She spoke very slowly. “It prolonged your lives, yes. But the spell doesn’t hold up forever. It has an end date.”

It took a moment for Nik to grasp what she was saying.

“You’re not immortal,” she added.

The words repeated themselves in his head. They didn’t make any sense.

“What?” he said, not able to think of anything else to say.

Briony braced herself to repeat it. She fixed her eyes on him and she said with a slow voice: “You’re all going to die.”

This could not be. She must be messing with him. Why would she say something like this? Yet her face wasn’t like someone’s face who was messing.

“No,” he replied.

She considered him with some wariness.

“I know this is a lot to take in-“ she began, but he interrupted her.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying, Nik!” Briony exclaimed. “You asked me to check and I did. These are the facts!”

A terrible hate rose in him and directed itself at Briony. How could she made up something like this?

“I don’t know why we’re putting up with you when-“ he began angrily, but she cut him off.

“I’m not arguing with you about this!” she exclaimed. “Let’s go find Kol then and he can tell you!”

 

No, this couldn’t be true. Nik banned every thought of a possibility that this could have some truth in it from his mind. Briony was lying. That was the only thing that could be true. He pulled her by her arm outside to the terrace to look for Kol. Only half way there he realized that she hadn’t resisted the whole time. She could have easily fought him off, but she let him pull her through the whole house. Nik pushed out any thought on why she didn’t do anything. He just wanted to get to Kol as quickly as possible.

They found Kol at the bottom of the stairs to the garden. With fast steps Nik walked towards him. When he saw them, he immediately snapped at Nik.

“What on earth is wrong with you?!” he shouted, as he tore away Nik’s hand from Briony’s arm.

Nik was taken by surprise by this sudden reaction from Kol, since he hadn’t spoken to him in days. He rubbed his hand. Kol had almost broken it.

“I told him,” Briony said.

Kol looked from her to Nik, and his face turned from anger to fear. He hesitated, not knowing what to say. Nik considered Kol for a moment. It was clear that he was believing it.

“She’s lying, Kol,” he said.

“What?” Kol asked in surprise, as if that was the last thing on his mind. “No, she’s not.”

“Of course, she is,” Nik exclaimed, and stepped closer to Kol. “This cannot be true.”

Kol shook his head with disbelief.“I was there when she did the spell! It’s true.”

“She’s messing with us,” Nik repeated.

“And why would she lie about something like this?” Kol shouted back angrily. “What could she possibly gain from telling you that we’re all going to die?!”

The last syllable ringed through Nik’s ears. Kol’s absolute determination that this was true threw an ice cold shudder down his spine. It scared him to see his brother like this. Could it be that after all these years they had made such a crucial mistake?

“But it can’t…” he said again, not able to finish his sentence.

The doubts grew. He went through the previous conversation again. There was no reason for Briony to make it up. She could be a tease, but this wasn’t like her at all. He could think of nothing that explained the lie. He pleadingly stared into his brother’s eyes. They were a mixture of anger and desperation. He looked to Briony, whose head was lowered. There were tears in her eyes.

“I’m not lying,” she said with a shaken voice.

Millions of thoughts began rushing through his head. Was it true? He thought back to the beginning after they had been turned. What did he actually know about the spell? What had they learnt over the years? They couldn’t age, they couldn’t be killed, but what if all this suddenly stopped? Was that possible?

The meaning of the words began to sink in. His knees felt weak. Slowly he sank onto the stairs. He observed his arms and legs. His whole body made the impression it was decomposing at this moment. He gulped. It felt like his lungs were in desperate need of air. He focused on his breathing for a moment. He couldn’t remember the last time he did that.

“But…how long?” he heard his own voice getting thinner.

Briony didn’t reply right ahead. After a few moments she said: “Roughly a thousand years in total. Probably a few years more.”

“How long?” he asked again. He needed a number.

“I don’t know,” Briony replied with a frustrated impatience. “1002 years? Something like that.”

“You’re sure about this?” he asked her, fixing on her.

He expected her to roll her eyes or snort, something she usually did when he kept asking her the same questions. She didn’t.

She simply said: “Yes.”

“But that means…,” his head began to spin again.

“You have about 250 years left to live.”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like everything up to this point was exposition! I'm happy you stuck with me until now! Let me know what you think and what you want to read more of :-)


	16. Three Chalk Lines

_**Present Day** _

 

As they walked up to the mansion, Rebekah still had a numb feeling in her stomach. Except the red streaks all over her body, her wounds had healed. She felt terrible nevertheless. Those stupid hallucinations always left behind the biggest marks.

The house looked just like they left it. No visible sign of a fight. Rebekah wasn’t sure if that was a good sign. The entrance door was shut.

“I’m going to murder him if he just forgot to look at his phone,” Nik mumbled, as he walked up to the door and opened it.

Rebekah followed him, tired. She knew that they had to check Marcel first because he might be dying. But with every step further away from the Bayou her fear for Elijah grew bigger. What if they had left him to a much worse fate?

They entered the house. The second they passed the threshold Rebekah realized it was way too quiet. Nik noticed it too. Just as the outside, everything looked as usual. No fight. But something was wrong, Rebekah was sure of it. They looked at each other, then up the stairs. Nik rushed upstairs and a second later, she heard him speak from the upper floor.

“Freya’s gone.”

Great, Rebekah thought. The day just kept getting better. Her eyes quickly searched the all the doorways and windows. Nothing seemed out of place. With quick steps she moved down the hallway. As she turned around the corner, she suddenly saw him. Marcel was lying in one corner, unconscious.

“Nik!” she shouted.

She was just about to step to Marcel and lift him up when she saw a crystal lying in one corner of the hallway. She stopped. She looked around for more crystals and saw more of them. They all circled him.

A second later Nik stood next to her. He too wanted to get to Marcel.

“Watch out!” Rebekah shouted, and held Nik back.

She nodded to the crystals that were lying on the ground.

“This doesn’t look like a werewolf’s doing to me,” Nik said, and he kicked one of the crystals away from its spot. Immediately Marcel began to move.

He quickly came back to his senses and Rebekah lifted him up on his shoulders. He looked at them groggily but worried.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Nik replied, as he too looked around for more clues. “Freya’s gone.”

Marcel eyes moved back forth, trying to make sense of this information. Then his face sank.

“It was Davina,” he said quietly.

“What?” Rebekah said in surprise.

She didn’t expect that. So far Davina had seemed reliable.

“I saw her before I fell over. It must have been her spell,” he said. He looked at the crystals that still lay on the ground. Then after a pause he added confused: “I can’t believe she did that.”

“You said we could trust her!” Nik said angrily, and pushed Marcel on the chest.

“I know!” Marcel replied heatedly, standing his ground. He obviously had trouble to wrap around his head around the fact. “I thought we could!”

His eyes sank to the ground. Rebekah looked back and forth between him and her brother.

“She probably never was on our side and just waited for a moment to free Freya!” Nik replied with anger.

“Now wait a moment, that doesn’t make any sense! If she never was on our side she wouldn’t have helped us to capture Freya, would she?” Marcel replied loudly.

Rebekah wasn’t sure why he defended her now, but what he said was true. Why would Davina leave now after she helped them so much?

“He’s right, it doesn’t make any sense. After everything she had done I doubt the coven would take her back,” Rebekah weighed in, trying to sound calm. At least one of them should sound calm, she thought.

“Until now, that she freed Freya. And now that she knows way too much about us and can tell that information to the coven!” Nik replied. “How could you do that to us?”

Marcel shook his head slowly. “I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, okay?”

Nik just grumbled and glared at him. Then he turned away.

 

“What happened to you guys? Where’s Elijah?” Marcel said after a pause.

Rebekah remembered that their clothes were still torn and she had red streaks all over her. And Nik was still covered in his own dried blood. She wearily filled him in on what happened the night before. He looked at her with widened eyes.

When she was done with her story he asked Nik: “And what did they do to you? Whose blood is that?”

“It’s mine,” Nik replied. “I don’t know what they were trying to do.”

“We think they might have tried to weaken him… by draining him or something like that,” Rebekah added.

“It didn’t work though,” Nik replied, with a suppressed smile.

Marcel thought about what they just told him for a moment.

Then he asked: “What made the Blanchards change their minds? Why did the werewolves suddenly turn against you?”

Nik shook his head. “I don’t know. They said something about that we couldn’t hold up our end of the bargain. And then they attacked us.”

Rebekah’s face lit up. “But of course, that’s it! They must have known that Freya had escaped. She was our end of the bargain. With her being escaped they knew that we would stay longer in town than we agreed to.”

“How did they know she escaped?” Nik asked.

“The witches must have contacted them,” she added.

Marcel nodded.

“So now what? That was enough to declare us sworn enemies again? Unbelievable werewolves,” Nik grumbled.

“We have to help Elijah,” Rebekah pleaded. She didn’t want to imagine what they could do to him.

 

“I’d say we-“ Marcel stopped abruptly. His eyes were fixed into the distance as if he just realized something. He looked worried.

“Wait,” he said and rushed away. Rebekah and Nik exchanged a look and then followed him. The caught up with him in the office.

They found Marcel staring at the boxes. Rebekah immediately saw what the problem was. They were much emptier than the last time she saw them.

“I hate to make this situation even worse. But I’m pretty sure Davina took those with her,” Marcel said quietly.

Nik struggled hard to keep it together. “Who even allowed her to look at those books?” he said with gritted teeth.

He turned to Marcel, but Rebekah stood in front of him.

“It was me, okay? I didn’t think it was a big deal. I thought reading them might keep her with us,” she shouted. That wasn’t completely true. But it was better when Nik’s rage was directed towards her instead of Marcel.

“You thought reading those notebooks would convince her to stay with us? Obviously you thought wrong, didn’t you?” he said with a sneer.

“Don’t be so condescending, Nik. We have bigger problems right now.”

“Don’t you see that this is a huge part of the problem?! She’ll use it to convince the coven to trust her again. We just gave the coven our whole life story, including all our weaknesses! It is only a matter of time until they’ll use it against us! We should have burnt the whole thing a long time ago!”

“Fine, then we’ll get it back. No big deal!” Rebekah replied.

She expected Nik to retort something mean again, but he didn’t. She saw that he was already working on a plan. He traced up und down the room.

“Freya knows way too much about us right now,” he said. “And she made it clear that she’s not going to cooperate. We need to get her back here right now. And the books, or destroy them while we’re at it.”

“Nik, Elijah might be dying right now!” Rebekah urged him. 

“What are we going to do first?” Marcel asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Either they could save Elijah, or they might run into danger of giving the witches enough power to kill them all. Rebekah didn’t understand how they were still fighting about this. Right now she didn’t care about those books or Freya. While they were fighting here Elijah could already be dying. She wanted him back.

“This isn’t a question, is it?” Rebekah asked. “Obviously we’re going for Elijah first.”

Nik nodded contemptuously. “You’re right.”

He stared at the half empty boxes with anger.

“We can worry about Freya later.”

 

* * *

 

 

_**1750, Northern France** _

 

Nik and Briony had been fighting about the fact that he was going to die for the next few days. Nik swung back and forth between times of realization and absolute desperation and times where he suppressed those feelings and confronted Briony of lying again. Every time he went back to realization the truth hit him again in the face with full force. It wouldn’t get better. They were going to die.

“This is ridiculous, Nik,” Kol shouted at him. “Do you wanna spend the next 200 years arguing about this?!”

They still hadn’t told Rebekah and Elijah about their fate. Nik knew it was inevitable.

“Do you think I’ll just believe whatever she tells me. I’m not going to believe it until I see it with my own eyes!” Nik shouted back.

“We’re not going to do the whole spell again, just because you’re a moody-“ Kol shouted back.

“It’s fine,” Briony interrupted him. “If that’s what’s necessary to convince him I’ll do it. Anything to get over this useless discussion and we can get on with it.”

 

Without saying anything else Briony left to get some things and they met in the dining room again. They sat down around the table. She placed a big flat silver plate in front of them and drew three white lines with chalk on it.

“For demonstrational purposes I’ll also use my blood and the blood of that cat that kept running around on the terrace. So you’ll have some point of reference.”

The cat blood she took from a flask and dripped it onto the end of the chalk line on the left. Then she cut her own hand let it drop onto the end of the line in the middle.

“Now I need your blood,” she said and held out her hand.

Reluctantly Nik held out his. She took it and cut into his palm. His blood fell onto the line on the right.

“The spell works like this: it shows how long the living being already has lived and how long it’s going to live. That is without any outside interference. It shows you how long you would live if you died of old age so to say, without anyone murdering you. At first the drop of blood extends in a circle. That tells you how old the living being is. You see, the blood drop of the cat is tiny, because it’s only a few years old. Mine is already much bigger, being over 80 years already. But yours keeps extending since you’re much older.”

Nik observed the droplets on the plate. His was by far the biggest. Eventually it stopped extending.

“Now, if I do this -“ Briony did a weird hand movement over the plate. “The blood begins to move along the white lines. The cat blood will stop pretty quickly, because the cat won’t get much older than 10 years at most.”

The cat blood did indeed stop. A short red line on the white chalk stayed behind.

“The other two however will keep growing. I’m estimating my own death in about 300 or 350 years. See what happens now.”

They both concentrated on the two lines on the white chalk. Both kept growing steadily side by side. Until, out of nowhere, Nik’s suddenly slowed down. It came to a halt. He stared at his own blood line. Why wasn’t it moving? From the corner of his eye he saw that Briony’s was still extending. He looked back and forth between his own line that didn’t move anymore and hers that kept extending. A short while later hers stopped as well, but had reached a much greater length. They sat in silence. So this was it.

“Same happened with Kol’s blood. You’re going to die before me,” Briony said in an almost unhearable voice. This fact seemed to torture her as well.

 

What came was easily Nik’s least favourite day of his entire life. Wrapping his head around his own inevitable death was terrible enough for Nik, but telling the rest of siblings about it was even worse.

They gathered in the living room on the same evening. Nik wasn’t sure why he did that, but he tried to not be suspicious when lured them into the living room. As if that would make it easier, when he dropped the truth bomb later. He could tell they already knew something was up.

“Has this to do with Flora?” Rebekah asked.

“What?” Nik asked confused. He had completely forgotten about anything that had happened in the days leading up to this point.

“No,” he said. “None of this matters anymore!” He didn’t want to sound so angry, but Rebekah’s problems seemed so non-existent now.

“The thing is…” he said hesitantly.

This was harder than he thought. Now he understood why it took Kol and Briony so long to tell anyone.

“We’re going to die,” Kol said bluntly.

Elijah and Rebekah exchanged confused looks. Again Nik began to explain, and this time he managed to tell the whole story. When he was done, Kol confirmed it. Both Elijah and Rebekah looked back and forth between the three, slowly realizing that they were completely serious. Elijah’s and Rebekah’s faces turned into sheer terror when they had finished their story. Unlike Nik, Rebekah and Elijah didn’t resist as long as he did. Maybe it was because they had more trust in their siblings. Or maybe because both he and Kol were already convinced. They knew that it couldn’t be a joke. He saw how his own words slowly broke Elijah and Rebekah. He didn’t want to do this to them, but there was no way around it.

“This cannot be,” Rebekah said into the distance with a thin voice. “What have I done with my life?”

“What can we do? What are we going to do?” Elijah said, tracing through the room.

That was typical for Elijah, Nik thought. He was trying to find a reasonable solution for the problem before the full amount desperation could even reach him. Kol followed his walk with his eyes.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he said.

“I mean have we thought about all the possibilities? There must be something-“ Elijah said again.

“What does it matter?” Rebekah shouted. “It all makes sense, doesn’t it?! Immortality! We’re so stupid! It was only a matter of time until something killed us anyway! Might as well be the spell that created us!”

“Calm down, okay? We’ll figure out a way to deal with this,” Nik said.

“Don’t tell me to calm down! If there’s a moment where none us should calm down, it is right now!” Rebekah shouted. “And don’t pretend you’re the calm one in this family!”

Kol snorted at that last remark. Elijah threw a nasty look at him.

“What are we going to do?” Elijah asked again.

“250 years is still a long time. It’s like three good human lives,” Briony said.

They all looked at her in shock.

“I didn’t expect you to agree with this,” Briony added quietly and sat down in a chair.

Suddenly Nik had a semi-useful idea.

“You can change it,” Nik turned to Briony. “Don’t you?”

She raised her eyebrows and observed him for a moment.

“How am I supposed to change it?” she rolled her eyes.

“You can do things like that. This is not the time to be humble!” Nik exclaimed. Then with some reconsideration he added: “Please.”

“This has nothing to do with your lack of politeness, Nik. But that spell was made almost 800 years ago. By your mother. And with the help of one of the most powerful witches that has ever lived, and I frankly still don’t understand why she agreed to help with something like this. And you’re expecting me to _improve_ their spell?”

“Well, yes,” he replied.

Briony looked at him disbelievingly. “I told you before that immortality is not an existing thing in this world. Not even the most powerful witches on this planet have managed to create it. And you think I can just do it like that?” She snapped her fingers. “It’s impossible.”

“So you’re not even trying?” Nik replied angrily.

Briony shook her head. With some resignation she looked over to Kol.

“I suppose we can see if there is anything we can do. But I won’t be chasing some impossible idea for the next two hundred years.”

 

 

 


	17. More Powerful Witches

**_Present Day_ **

With great reluctance Davina returned to the witch bar a day later. Freya hadn’t explained her whole plan the night before or what she needed Klaus’ blood for. Davina hadn’t given her the chance. As more and more witches had turned up in the back office, each of them throwing a terrible glare at Davina, she had decided it was best to leave before the focus turned to her. Freya had made her promise though that she’d return the next day. Davina regretted the decision that she left the day before. Now she still had the whole confrontation with the coven ahead of her. And this time she had to show up all by herself, without being able to hide behind Freya’s back.

Slowly she entered the back office of the bar. She was glad to see that only few people were there yet. She tiptoed in the entrance, until Freya saw her.

“Davina,” Freya’s face lit up. “Good to see you back. Sit down.”

She ushered her to a chair. It took another ten minutes and the room began to fill up. To Davina’s relief most of the witches didn’t pay her any attention. Whatever Freya had told them about her must have appeased them a bit. That didn’t count for everyone though. As Louis entered the room she could feel the temperature of the room drop to arctic levels. She only caught his glare for a second and then immediately turned away. Her plan was to avoid any confrontation and so she stared to the ground, folded her hands and kept her mouth shut. Louis’ approach to the situation was different. He sat down in the chair next to her and crossed his arms. Why on earth did he sit down next to her? So much for making this situation even more uncomfortable. She could feel his glare on her, but she kept her eyes on the ground.

When almost all the chairs were occupied the door opened once more. The room got quiet. Curiosity took over and Davina looked up as well. Jean entered, accompanied by a man and a woman. Davina immediately knew who they were. Bastien and Celine Blanchard.

“I think this is everyone,” Jean said, and she and her guests sat down as well.

“What is this about, Jean?” one of the witches asked her. Davina couldn’t remember seeing her the night before.

“Some of you haven’t been here last night, so let me start from the beginning,” Jean said. “After Freya had been captured by the Original vampires, as you all know, she managed to escape… with some help.” She quickly glanced to Davina.

Davina had a hard time not rolling her eyes. Way to show gratitude, Jean.

“During her capture Freya managed to learn valuable information about the Original vampires, that will help us to get rid of them. Even kill them. And it just sop happened that the vampires were in presence of the only people that could get us what we need to get rid of them.” She nodded to Celine and Bastien.

_Kill them_ , the words flew through Davina’s head. Until now she wasn’t aware that this was the coven’s goal.

“We immediately contacted them and everything worked out to plan,” Jean concluded.

“How are we going to kill them?” someone asked.

“Freya?” Jean asked.

“The idea came to me after Sara told me her plan,” Freya said besides Davina. She was the only who wasn’t bothered by sitting next to her besides Louis.

“Sara told me, just before this terrible thing happened to her, that instead of using all our powers to fight them, we should use them to resurrect someone who is more powerful than us.”

“And that’s what you want to do?” Louis asked, skeptical.

“Well, not just anyone powerful. During my capture I learnt about a powerful witch. The Originals vampires told me about their mother. She was the witch who created them. And after realizing what she had done, she had tried to kill them. If we could resurrect her, she could kill them for us. And now hear this, she died here in New Orleans.”

Davina tried to put the pieces together. She wanted them gone as well, that was true. But just keeping them out of town would have been enough. She didn’t want to kill them. Killing them would mean killing all the vampires, Marcel included. That gave her a bitter taste in her mouth.

“But we can’t just resurrect people. It’s not that simple,” someone weighed in.

“She was a magical being. And she was killed by another magical being,” Freya said with gravitas.

Now Davina saw where Freya was going. Of course, she wanted to resurrect Esther with Niklaus’ blood.

Another witch put it together as well and exclaimed: “We can resurrect witches if they were killed by another magical being! We just need the blood of the murderer for the spell. But do we know who it was?”

“Yes,” Freya said. “It was Niklaus.”

“How do you know that?” Davina blurted out.

She was confused. She had read about Esther, and she was pretty sure that was not how she died. In fact, she remembered who had done it according to Briony’s diaries.

“Because they pretty much told me,” Freya replied.

“Really,” Davina said surprised.

Someone else asked a question, and Freya turned away to reply. They shortly discussed Niklaus’ blood that the werewolves successfully acquired in the night before. Davina listened to their story on how they double crossed the vampires. Davina didn’t feel sorry for the Originals being tricked, but part of her felt bad for Elijah who was still stuck in the Bayou. The witches and werewolves agreed that keeping him there would keep the rest of the Originals busy until the spell was completed. Since they were so many witches and they could use the energy field in the forest it would not take more than a few days. The general air in the room turned to excitement. Suddenly the goal to get rid off the Original vampires seemed graspable.

Davina’s head began to spin. She realized Freya made a big mistake. Niklaus didn’t kill Esther. The longer she thought about it, the surer she was about that fact. Briony had a rather detailed recollection of the events on Esther’s death. Davina was sure that someone else had killed her. Ironically, Briony had left out how exactly Esther had tried to kill them. Maybe Freya had misunderstood whatever she believed to have heard from her siblings? Davina thought about if she should tell the coven about that. If she did, she’d surely gain some respect back from them. But then she would have to tell them about the notebooks, and she didn’t want to share them. And then there was the fact that she didn’t want the vampires dead.

As the discussion around her became livelier around her, Davina just became quieter. She kept her mouth shut. No, she couldn’t do it. She was sure this would have been her last chance to come back into the good graces of the coven, but she didn’t want to for that kind of price. After the night was over, she’d finally get on that bus and leave New Orleans forever. She’d let resurrect the coven whatever magical being Niklaus had killed in New Orleans. It surely wouldn’t be Esther.

* * *

 

**_1751, Northern France_ **

 

It was an odd feeling to know that he was going to die. Elijah didn’t know what to do with. Somehow he still felt the same. The only thing that changed that everything he did now had some sense of urgency to it. They tended to postpone things, but now they might not have the time to do it. Briony had guessed that they wouldn’t age much before dying. Instead it would come rather quickly, without warning. But Elijah didn’t want to let it come so far. His brain continuously went through all the possible scenarios. What could they do? Where to start?

Several weeks had passed since they had learnt the truth. Since that time Nik had locked himself in a room with Kol and Briony to figure out a plan. In the beginning Elijah had joined them, but he soon decided that he’d rather be anywhere else than being locked in a room with these three impatient people. He’d let them figure out their plan by themselves. Instead he decided to look for other solutions. Part of him also played with the scenario that they couldn’t change it. Every time that thought slipped through his mind his back shuddered. No, that wasn’t an option.

It was an early dusty morning and Nik trampled back and forth through the living room. Elijah watched him for a while and then turned back to the window. A second later Kol appeared in the doorway.

“What on earth are you doing?” he asked Nik.

“Waiting for your girlfriend to wake up,” he replied.

It had been like this in the last few days. Nik didn’t see any need for rest anymore. All he wanted to do was find a solution as quick as possible. He couldn’t understand that the others didn’t feel the same.

“I rather think you’re trying to wake her up with your stampede!”

“Is it working?” Nik asked.

“She’s not a vampire, Nik!” Kol snapped. “She needs to sleep sometimes!”

“Does she really, though? She does that a lot lately,” Nik grumbled.

“What is that supposed to mean? Do you think she pretends to sleep in order to tease you? You’re an idiot,” Kol replied.

Elijah sighed. He wondered how this was helping anything. He understood that Nik was stressed by the situation but after all it wasn’t that urgent. And he doubted that Briony could do anything in the first place.

“Stop bickering, you two,” he said.

 

A short while later both Rebekah and Briony entered the living room. Like the rest of them they had an air of fatigue around them. The last few weeks had been stressful for everyone. Rebekah let herself fall into a sofa chair.

“Let’s continue with our work then?” Nik said, as he saw her. He began to walk over to the exit door.

“Wait,” Briony stopped him.

“I thought about an idea,” Briony added.

They all looked at her with anticipation.

“Good! Yes?” Nik asked eagerly and stepped closer to her.

She looked at him in mild surprise. “Calm down. I haven’t solved the immortality spell if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Nik grumbled. “What then?”

“The thought of creating an immortality spell…” she slowly shook her head. “That’s way out of my league.”

She began tracing down the room. “Compared to that resurrecting people suddenly seems very feasible. It’s hard as well, but at least possible.”

“What do you mean? Who do you want to resurrect?” Elijah asked.

“Your mother,” she paused. “She created the original spell. If anyone has even the slightest chance to temper with that spell it’s her.”

They looked at her in surprise. Elijah let that thought go through his head. Would that work?

“And you can do that?” Nik asked.

“Well, we’d need to find her remains, which is probably the trickiest part of the whole thing. Because she has been dead for such a long time.”

“Do we think it’s wise to do that?” Elijah asked.

He remembered what it was like when their mother was still around. Soon after she had turned them into vampires she had regretted it. Elijah doubted that she’d agree to even prolong her mistake now. Besides, resurrection spells were not easy and took a long time. Was it worth to go all through that trouble? And what if they actually succeeded and Esther wouldn’t help them in the end? Then they’d spent all that time chasing the wrong solution while time would pass by.

“Since it’s the first proper idea we have we shouldn’t easily dismiss it, Elijah. If there’s even a possibility that it might work we have to do it,” Nik said.

“He’s right. I don’t think we’ll find any other possibility that comes as close to a solution as this,” Briony added. “But as I said, I won’t be easy. Resurrection needs a lot of time, and I might need help to do it. And the thing with the remains will be a problem. After all those years she probably has turned completely into dust.”

“Yeah, about that…” Nik said slowly.

They all turned to him. He averted his eyes and looked at his feet. There was something in Nik’s words that didn’t sound good to Elijah.

“Niklaus?” Elijah asked.

He knew that look. He already figured that he probably won’t like what comes next. Why wasn’t he surprised by this? Nik stalled for a moment.

Then he said: “The good thing is she hasn’t turned into dust.”

“Why?” Elijah asked, carefully.

“Because I put her in an enchanted coffin. She’s not as dead as you might think she is.”

With widened eyes his sibling stared at him in silence. It took a moment for that piece of information to sink it.

“You did what?!” Rebekah gasped after a moment of silence.

“You’re joking,” Kol said aghast.

Nik looked at them, slightly intimidated. “I mean, it doesn’t make much difference to us. She’s as dead as it gets. And just by ourselves we wouldn’t be able to resurrect from that state anyway. So it’s pretty much the same as dead.”

“And you never bothered to tell us?!” Elijah said, taking a step closer to his brother.

“Why on earth did you do that?” Rebekah closed in from the other side.

“It just seemed better than letting her die completely. It doesn’t really matter,” Nik said, taking a slow step back. “Does it?”

“Oh you think that, don’t you?” Elijah said, gritting his teeth.

He had a hard time not to punch his brother in this moment. Nik seemed out of words. His eye twitched. He seemed to already expect a blow at his head. They stared at each other for a few moments, while the others watched them in strained silence.

“I guess in this particular situation we could say this is fortunate?” Briony said, trying to sound diplomatic.

Kol looked at her and shook his head vigorously and she was quiet again.

Elijah’s contempt for his, at this moment, least favourite brother slowly weakened again. He shook his head in surrender. It wasn’t worth to get angry about this. At least not right now. He tried to focus on the advantage that this situation brought.

 

Eventually he said with forced politeness: “Alright. So you carried our mother around in a coffin for several centuries.”

Speaking it out loud only made it sound even more ridiculous to Elijah. “Can you bring her here?”

“Well, no, she’s not here,” Nik said, slightly taken aback.

“Where is she?” Elijah asked, restraining himself.

Nik quickly recalled, glad that the conversation moved on. “Do you remember that time we spent at that lake in Greece, right at the northern border?”

“Did you leave her there in Greece?” Rebekah gasped and she put her hands in front of her mouth. “Why would you do that?”

“Well, no,” he replied. “I left her on the island on that lake. And the island technically belongs to Albania.”

“You left our mother in Albania?!” Elijah exclaimed.

“It was much safer than carrying her around the whole time,” Nik pleaded. “No one ever goes to that island.”

That they had this conversation in a situation where they were facing death only reminded Elijah of the constant absurdity he was confronted with his siblings, and especially with Nik. Maybe they had indeed lived too long and were past any kind of life based on sanity.

 

Against Elijah’s better judgement, they soon decided that they needed to leave for Greece as soon as possible. Elijah doubted that a journey would improve their mental state and would only add another layer of stress. He had suggested that Nik would go there alone and bring their mother back to France, but Nik and the rest of his siblings were against it. They argued it would need too much time. Elijah figured though that they just didn’t want to sit around anymore. He couldn’t blame them. Going on a quest to Greece seemed a better occupation than thinking about one’s own mortality.

Within the hour they had already decided on all preparations. They wanted to leave within two weeks time. Briony couldn’t say if any of their plans would actually work. She couldn’t make any predictions on how well a resurrection would work on Esther in her death-like trance state. She needed to see her first before she could decide anything. Still, even Elijah had to admit that this loose plan was better than sit around and do nothing. When they had decided on their schedule Rebekah turned to Briony.

“We need to contact Finn right away,” she said.

“What?” Nik interrupted her. “No, we don’t!”

Rebekah turned to him instead, agitated. “This is not up to you, anymore. He ought to know. This is a life and death situation! Don’t you think we should all be together?!”

“Finn won’t understand, Rebekah,” he replied. “Death, that’s what he’s wanted for a long time. He won’t help us!”

“He’ll sabotage us,” he pushed again.

“He ought to know,” Rebekah repeated, pleading.

She turned to Elijah and Kol.

“I don’t know,” Elijah said carefully. “It probably only makes things more difficult with him.”

Nik nodded in agreement. Rebekah sighed and turned away.

“Let’s wait for now, okay?” Elijah added. “We can tell him when we have figured out a more concrete plan. It shouldn’t take long until we know more.”


	18. Resurrection

**_Present Day_ **

 

How this could happen to Davina, was a mystery to her. She traced her room up and down, every few minutes checking the street through the blinds of her window. The street was empty. Her huge suitcase was still ready to go next to the door. She had left it there the night before.

The day before she had wanted to leave New Orleans for good. She had gone to the bus station as planned. But as she walked up to the transit building she had already notice the huge crowds in front of it. Inside the building they had told her that all the buses were overbooked for the day because the nearby airport had closed due to some storm. She had been given a new ticket for the day after. Davina had played with the idea in just staying right there in the bus stop until she could finally leave. But she had to admit that this was no way safer than going home again. Then, with great reluctance she had gone home again, the whole time worrying that the witches, or even worse the vampires, had already been waiting for her there. Luckily no one had.

Since then she had locked herself inside her small apartment and decided to leave the next morning as soon as possible.

 

Now it was almost time to go. Maybe another half an hour and she would go back to the bus station. She looked outside the window again. Still, no one there. Just as she wanted to turn away she saw a silhouette far away, just turning into her street. With strained nerves Davina watched the silhouette coming closer. It was a woman. Maybe it was just a passerby, she reminded herself. She recognized blonde hair. Her stomach turned into a huge knot. There were two possibilities of who that could be, and Davina didn’t want either of them to become true. The woman turned to her house. It was Freya. Davina felt some sense of relief. At least Freya didn’t want to murder her, probably.

A minute later her door knocked. Davina sat dead still on her bed. She waited. Another knock. Davina didn’t reply.

“Davina, I know you’re awake. I saw you in your window,” she heard Freya say.

Reluctantly Davina walked over to the door and opened it. Freya smiled at her, apparently relieved that she answered the door.

“What do you want?” Davina asked, and immediately reminded herself that despite everything she actually was on good terms with Freya.

“You weren’t at the bar yesterday. So I just wanted to check if you’re still in for the resurrection. It’s tonight!” she said.

“Tonight? Already!” Davina asked surprised.

“Yeah,” Freya asked with some tiredness in her voice. “Good constellations of planets tonight, you know how it goes. It’s either now or in two and a half months.”

“Huh,” Davina replied. She knew they were in a hurry with the resurrection, but didn’t expect them to work everything out in two days.

“Were you planning on leaving?” Freya asked, as her eyes fell on the big suitcase.

Davina hesitated.

“I know you’re scared,” Freya said, before Davina could reply. “I am too. But running away is not a good idea. We’re much stronger together. And I wasn’t kidding when I said we need everyone for the resurrection.”

Davina knew she saw serious about that. But of course, Freya didn’t know that her spell wouldn’t work in any case. And Davina wouldn’t tell her. Freya took a few steps into her apartment and she looked around. It made Davina a bit uncomfortable, but she didn’t know how to stop Freya from doing it. She reminded herself that she had already packed away all the notebooks.

“This resurrection spell, it will revive a witch who can help us. And everything will go back to normal,” Freya said intently, as she looked out the window where Davina had just stood before.

Davina observed her for a moment. Then she carefully asked: “Is that the whole reason? Why you want to resurrect her?”

“What do you mean?” Freya asked, turning back to her.

Davina observed her expression for a moment. “If I understood correct, the witch we’re resurrecting is your mother, isn’t she? Esther?”

Freya shoulders twitched. She looked at Davina with a perplexed face.

After she caught herself again she said with a slightly trembling voice: “I never thanked you for being so… considerate about my family relations.”

“Yeah I can see why you don’t want to spread those news around the coven,” Davina said with a smirk.

Freya looked at her in disbelief. She obviously didn’t know what to do with Davina.

“Must be odd,” Davina added, “this situation. Meeting your mother after all those years. And killing your siblings at the same time.”

Freya’s face hardened. “Well, you can’t choose your family.”

“But all of this will change when we’ll resurrect Esther,” Freya repeated.

It wouldn’t be Esther. Davina had checked again after Freya had told her idea for the first time. Now Davina was one hundred percent sure that Esther was killed by someone else.

“And how is this spell working?” Davina asked. “How do you know you will resurrect the right person?”

“The spell,” Freya said, apparently glad the conversation turned to something else, “is designed so that it pulls on the strongest magical being that fits the description, or let’s say the imprint of the spell.”

“So you’re basically resurrecting whatever magical being was the strongest in New Orleans.”

“Yes,” Freya nodded.

“And that was killed by Niklaus,” Davina added.

“Which is Esther,” Freya concluded.

Davina nodded slowly. An idea formed in her head. Could it be? There was the other witch she by now had read so much about, who happened to be killed in New Orleans by the very hands that allegedly had murdered Esther. While Esther didn’t fit to the description of the spell, Briony did perfectly. A mixture of excitement and smugness overcame Davina. Why this was reason enough to stay she couldn’t tell, but her gut told her to stick around to see what happened.

“Fine, I’ll stay,” she said, while trying to hide a smirk.

 

The rest of the day went by like a blur. She had followed Freya back to the coven. But this time she didn’t care about the glares she occasionally got. Her knowledge about what was about to happen made her feel superior. They had many things to prepare. Davina did what she was told, without ever talking to anyone besides Freya. Before she knew it Davina stood together with the other witches in the forest, as the sun slowly set. Since they didn’t know if Esther was buried in New Orleans or if any of the remains even survived over time, the coven decided to simply summon her out of the earth. So instead of the cemetery they had gathered in the forest in the centre of the magical heap of energy the witches had been so obsessed about. Davina was surprised to see that everyone of the coven had shown up. There were much more people in the coven than she remembered.

After everyone had been present Freya and Jean began to sort everyone to a particular spot that made them stand in several circles. Davina was glad that she had been assigned to one in the back rows. Soon after Jean gave them instructions when who had to chant which part of the spell. It wasn’t that difficult, but everyone paid close attention to Jean’s words. After that the enchantment of the spell began. Davina again chanted when she was told.

After a few minutes the earth began to tremble. Davina didn’t know where to look. On every side the trees began to shake. The endless shattering became louder and louder.

“It’s working!” the man next to Davina shouted.

Davina’s knees felt wobbly and she had trouble staying on her legs. It felt like they were breaking nature itself into halves for this spell.

Suddenly a great green light shot through their lines. Davina heard cries and gasps around as she herself closed her eyes shut. She forced herself to open them again. A bright green light was still around them and shot into the sky. She couldn’t tell where it came from or where it went. A worry came over her. Was it working after all? It couldn’t be. But was all of this supposed to happen even though there was no way they could resurrect Esther? Just as she wanted to turn her head to look for the source of the bright light, it abruptly disappeared. The trembling stopped. Davina fell on her knees. She wasn’t the only one who lost her footing. As she clambered up to an upright position she heard the witches around her talk. “Did it work?” “Was that supposed to happen?”

Davina searched for Freya and Jean in the mass, and found them in the centre. They were discussing something. She couldn’t hear what they were saying. As she moved a few steps closer she realized they weren’t discussing, they were arguing.

“It didn’t work, Freya!” she heard Jean say, as she stepped closer.

“ _Something_ happened. You can’t deny that!” Freya defended herself.

“Why, what do you mean, it didn’t work?” a witch that stood next to Davina exclaimed.

Jean turned to them. “Did you see the green light?” she said heatedly. “It went right passed us. The energy didn’t bind together the way it was supposed to! No one is going to be resurrected like that!”

“If there was nothing it could be bound to, the energy wouldn’t have manifested the way it did!” Freya shouted. Davina could hear some desperation in her voice.

“What does that help us, Freya? We just wasted a lot of power for this stunt! Until we have recovered from this we’re practically helpless!” Jean shouted back.

“Did we see where the light went?” the witch next to Davina asked.

Davina didn’t wait for the answer, but she was sure none of them had been able to see it. She hadn’t either. But unlike them she had an idea where it might have gone. As the witches kept arguing, she moved slowly back to her original spot. When she was sure that no one was watching her, she made a turn and began to run and disappeared between the trees.

* * *

**_1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_ **

 

Niklaus walked down the slippery path down to the chapel that was carved into the stone at the foot of the small island. He held up his jacket over his head in the hope that this would somewhat protect him from the rain. But the wind made it impossible to stay dry. Although it was raining and the rocks wet and slippery he didn’t pay much attention where he stepped. By now he could have drawn every single rock of that island in his sleep if necessary. He would have never thought that this was the place that he and siblings would choose to stay at for such a long time. To be fair, it wasn’t completely by choice that they had been there for almost half a century. Back in France they had thought it wouldn’t take long to resurrect their mother. That this was going to be the easy part of their quest to create an actual immortality spell. But now, 49 years later, they had only managed to find Esther’s coffin again and had been staring at her dead body ever since. It had been draining, all these unsuccessful tries. Nik was long past being restless. But soon they’d give it another try.

As soon as he reached the roof of the cave-like chapel, he took off his jacket and shook it out. He gave a last glance on the darkening lake around him and stepped inside. Rebekah was sitting on the foot of the opened coffin and looked at her dead mother, sunken in thoughts. She didn’t look up but Nik figured she registered him.

“Don’t you wanna wait with that until she’s alive? It should only be a matter of days now,” he said with a smile.

She looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. “Since when did you turn into such an optimist?”

“Someone has to be,” he said meekly.

When Nik was honest with himself, he had to admit that he wasn’t optimistic at all. He couldn’t be when somebody else was in charge of success, and there was nothing he could add in order for the spell to work. Rebekah turned back to Esther and rested her elbows at the edge of the coffin.

“Don’t you think it’s odd that we have known her longer like _this_ now,” Rebekah nodded towards the coffin, “than alive?”

“Yes, it is,” Nik admitted.

“I wonder sometimes,” Rebekah said, “if she’ll remember me, us, at all. If she even has memories from such a long time ago.”

“Yes, of course,” Nik replied. “She’ll remember us much better, than we remember her.”

“Oh really,” Rebekah said. “I think I’ll always remember everything about our mother. I could never forget.”

Nik wasn’t surprised by that. How Rebekah could live a life while continuously being faced with her emotions was a mystery to him. Frankly, he probably hadn’t forgotten either, he was just really good at repressing those kinds of thoughts.

“But you think that forgetting might have been better, don’t you?” Rebekah asked, as if she read his thoughts.

It was true. He was worried. Usually skepticism had the upper hand and he doubted that they would see their mother alive ever again. But what if they did? Would she even be happy to see them? She had regretted her immortality spell before and tried to undo her mistake. What if she hated her mistake so much that she also hated them? They had gone through all this trouble, and the possibility that she would completely reject them was high. Nik shuddered at the thought. Usually he was good at pushing away people who didn’t care about him, but this was different. How can you turn off your feelings for your own mother? What even was worse was the thought of how she could treat his brothers and sister. The way Rebekah was looking at her now was heartbreaking.

“We’ll figure something out when we’re done with the resurrection,” Nik eventually replied.

“If it will work,” Rebekah said and got up.

Rebekah’s doubts were understandable. So far their attempts to resurrect Esther had been fruitless. Their first proper try was a complete failure. Nothing had happened. Only then Briony had made the decision that whatever enchantment Esther was under was actually more difficult to break than they had originally thought. The problem was that the witch who had made the enchantment was long dead. And she did not bind the spell to her life, but nature itself. Which meant, according to Briony, that Esther’s enchantment was pretty much equal to death, if not even harder to break. They had done a second try two full decades later, after lots of preparations. They had found a second witch who was willing to help, which had seemed ideal at that time. She hadn’t been as powerful as Briony, but she had agreed to help with the spell nevertheless. Unfortunately this had also been her downfall. Before the spell had been completed, she had been struck dead by the power of the spell. After that Briony insisted on doing the spell alone, although it had taken her several decades more to prepare. And now after half a century it looked they were ready once again.

He heard a crash outside. Kol was swearing. A second later he stood in the doorway.

“Did you just fall down the stairs again?” Nik asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kol rubbed his shoulder. “Those bloody rocks.”

“How does that still happen to you? We’ve been here forever!”

“What is it to you if I don’t pay attention when walking down those stupid stairs at night?” Kol replied defensively. Then he added in a murmur: “At least now you get something to be smug about.”

A thunder halled through the small chapel.

“At least there’s something we can look forward to when everything works out,” Rebekah turned to Nik again. “We can go and tell Finn. I’m sure our mother can convince him to stay with us for good.”

Nik was pretty sure that she was the only one who was looking forward to _that_. Without saying another word Rebekah took her jacket and walked outside in the rain. Nik and Kol exchanged a look.

“We’re not planning on telling Finn, right?” Kol asked.

Nik shook his head. “If he wanted to be here for it, then he should have been here the whole time.”

“And it would be very counterproductive for the overall goal. He’ll never help us convince her to prolong our lives,” he then added.

“Still,” Kol said, “I doubt we’ll be able to keep him out of this forever. I don’t care too much about it, but I feel like Rebekah and Elijah do.”

“Let’s just postpone the Finn situation for as long as possible,” Nik replied.

They heard a crack outside the door. Someone was listening. They both turned to the entrance of the small chapel.

Briony stood in the door. She was barefoot. Her hair and her clothes were dripping wet.

“Briony, love,” Kol said. “What is it?”

“We can do it now. I’m ready,” she simply said.

“Now?” Nik asked hesitantly. It seemed very sudden.

“Yes, right now is good,” Briony replied, and turned around marched up the stairs into the forest.

 

They followed her into the woods until they reached a glade that was close to the highest point of the small island. As they stepped out of the protecting trees the rain fell even harder on them. A thunder rolled again. It almost felt like the thunderstorm that had seemed to pass came back and circled the island. They had taken out Esther out of the coffin and laid her down in the middle of the glade. The meadow on the glade was muddy and steep as the walked through it. The water came down even harder now and it became harder to see anything in the darkness. Nik began to wonder how this was a good idea. After all those decades of preparation, even he thought they should be a bit more careful.

“Are you sure now is a good time?” he asked Briony again.

Briony was deep in thoughts as she laid out some crystals in front of her. “What?” she asked absent-mindedly. “Yes, now is good. Nevermind the weather.”

The way she spoke was determined and focused. He could tell she was convinced that this was now the time. Still, her body was shaking from the rain and the ice cold wind. If she didn’t die of a cold, she’d probably get struck by lightning first, Nik thought.

“Good, get ready,” she said soon after.

The whole thing felt rushed.

He asked again “Are you sure that-“

“Yes!” she interrupted him. “Now get out of my way!”

Reluctantly Nik walked out to the edge of the glade, as they had discussed before. Standing on his toes, he observed what was happening next. From afar he still was able to make out Briony. Briony quickly looked if all of them, he, Kol, Rebekah and Elijah, were still there where she told them to be, arranged in a somewhat odd shaped circle along the edges of the glade. Nik didn’t know what purpose this had, but he knew he wouldn’t get any useful answer out of her this point.

Then Briony raised her hands into the sky. She began chanting a spell. Nik had asked what the chant meant before several times, and by now he probably would be able to say it along, not that this would help anything. For the first few minutes nothing happened, except that the rain and the wind grew stronger. But then, almost completely unnoticeable, a strange hammering sound became louder and louder. He couldn’t tell if it came from the ground or the sky. It was all around them. The winds began to rise again and the rain came down even harder. Nik couldn’t tell if that was part of the evocation or if they were just really unlucky with the weather. The earth under Nik’s feet began to tremble. The trees around them began to shatter and some wooden branches crashed onto the ground. The island shook back and forth as if something beneath would want to break it apart. It felt like they were standing on a volcano that was about to erupt. Between the thunder and the rain he still could hear Briony’s voice in the distance. It grew thinner every second, as the loud wind and the hammering sound blew through Nik’s ears. He could see that she was struggling to stay on her feet. That was what had happened to the other witch in their last attempt. She had suddenly lost her footing and then had fallen down life-less.

Suddenly a bright green light appeared from the sky and concentrated to a sharp jet of light that pushed down into the centre of the glade where Esther and Briony were. Everything became so bright, Nik had a hard time to see Esther, Briony or any of his siblings for that matter. The jet of light penetrated the earth and made everything shake even more. Nik was sure the island would break into pieces any second. He forced himself to stay on his feet and keep his eyes fixed on the bright light.

A loud bang halled through the air, and a second later the beam of light crashed into the ground where Esther just was. Briony was pushed away by an invisible force and landed several metres away on her back. She didn’t get up again. For a few seconds everything was quiet. The only sound remaining was the constant whirring of the rain. It looked like the trees and everything around them slowly settled down again to their normal state. It was over.

Without another moment to spare Nik rushed to the centre of the meadow. Esther’s body was completely unharmed and still looked just the same as before. But then Nik’s heart made a leap. She was breathing.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading chapter! Let me know what you think!
> 
> More updates to come very soon!


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